When Smaller is Better

I'm back (I'm back!- Slim Shady!) I'm back. 

Another Upland sour lottery has come and gone, and as usual the normal complaining follows in its wake (this last round coincided with the 2015 Secret Barrel Society membership announcement- talk about a sourstorm of epic proportions). The lottery system is flawed; lots of locals don't win (and they should get preference), and lots of non-locals win and never see their beers. Don't like the lottery? Then join the Secret Barrel Society, Upland says. (No matter all the fancy math and club perks you throw at me the SBS is not a good deal.)... or wait for the bottle clean-up. Bitching aside Upland's sours are in high demand whether they're getting traded, consumed locally, or being used as a cleaning solution. 

I don't bother with the Upland sours anymore for 2 reasons: Price and drinkability (looking at you lambics). $25-30 is an expensive beer to take on alone, especially when it's going to rot your teeth and stomach lining. Take it to a share you say? Sure and I'm privileged to be apart of an awesome share group, but we have stretches where we don't meet and occasionally it's nice to drink something special on your own (stop waiting for that special moment). Also, not everyone has "those people" they share beer with. I started to wonder what would get me to enter the Upland lotteries again, and not surprisingly it's a lower price and higher drinkability. I don't expect either of those things to happen, so the next best thing I could come up with is format size. 

Upland put your sours in smaller bottles. The 375ml or 500ml format is calling your name Upland... and for that matter anyone doing big alcoholic beers in large formats. 

This solves a lot of issues in my opinion; price drops and there's less beer to deal with in a serving. In theory, breweries are going to brew the same amount of beer regardless of package format, so that means more bottles (or cans) to go around... Maybe twice as much. More lottery winners, more bottles at clean-up. Price per oz would likely go up a bit, because of the increased material and labor costs, but I doubt enough to cause people to even blink. 

Several breweries have done just fine offering special beers in smaller formats: Sun King, Russian River, Crooked Stave, Prairie, and countless Belgian breweries to name a few. Prairie and Jolly Pumpkin have recently gone from large format bottles to more palatable 375ml and 500ml bottles, and Upland, yes Upland, has put Teddy Bear Kisses in 12oz 4-packs. So Upland has already made the switch a bit, why not keep following that trend?

Upland's Secret Barrel Society

So you say you're tired of having to enter the lottery to get your lambics from Upland?
So you say, you never get as many delicious sour beers as you want?
So you say you wish there was an easier way???
There is an easier way. I am a big fan of the Upland Lambics, and Malefactor is one of my all-time favorites, so when the Secret Barrel Society (SBS) memberships came out my wonderful wife got one for me for my birthday.

I've really enjoyed everything about it, but as I was going through my last tour of the Upland sour beer program, it occurred to me that not everyone really knows how many additions have been made to the benefits of the Secret Barrel Society.

Upland has had their Secret Barrel Society going on since the end of last year. When it first came out there were a lot of people in the local beer community that were, let's just say unimpressed, but Caleb, their head brewer, has done a ton to make this a worthwhile program. I know they have some possible changes in the works for next year, but let's take a look what what members have gotten so far.

• Each member recieved 2 members only tulip glasses
• So far there have been two private tours of the Upland Brewery sour program with Caleb and samples of the sours coming down the pike. Members were able to bring a guest to those events.
• There has been one sour beer release party, hosted at the Bloomington and Carmel tap houses, complete with samples of new beers, meats cheeses and talks with employees working on the sour program. Members were able to bring a guest to this as well.
• Members got a free VIP pass to the Sour Wild Funk Fest (SWFF).
• After SWFF we were able to go into the catacombs for a special SBS party. Again members were able to bring a guest.
• Most importantly, members have been able to get up to 6 of each beer for the last few releases. That is a TON of delicious Upland sours.

Upland was really upfront when talking about their goals for the SBS. They wanted to grow the sour program enough that they were able to start putting some of their beers back on liquor store shelves around town. They cool thing is, they've actually started doing it. Big Red has gotten a few cases of the last couple releases.

 

There are tons of people who talk about "the good ol'days" when you could just go to the store and buy a lambic. Well, the extra money coming in from the SBS memberships and the additional sales of the beer is making the sour program strong. If this had been a kickstarter it probably would have been supported better, but kickstarter takes money away from the program. 

As a community we can be unforgiving when we feel like we've been slighted or taken advantage of. I know SBS didn't impress everyone when it first came out, but they've done a great job making it a great value for beer geeks around town. If you love their sours and haven't been getting as many in the lottery as you want, you should really check out the Secret Barrel Society.

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for me

First off, a big congratulations to Upland Brewing Company for their win at the Indiana Brewers Cup. They won pro brewer best in show for VynoSynth Red and they also won pro brewer of the year and the Grand Champion Brewer! Great job! Keep the sours coming!

According to the Presidents of the United States of America, peaches come from a can, but Upland Brewing Company in Bloomington, Indiana is proving that peaches can come in a bottle too. Upland makes a base lambic, and then age it in barrels. They have barrels that are more than a decade old sitting in their cellars. Each bottle of lambic that you drink is a blend of different aged barrels and fresh lambic to get the right level of sour determined by their head brewer, Caleb. That blend is then aged in a barrel with a whole lot of all natural fresh fruit. Upland is big on sustainability and sourcing locally for everything they can, so the fruit they use is important to them. Often though their sour lambics are so tart that its hard to find the fruit. I was pleased with the peach, not because it was a heavy peach flavor necessarily but because it did a good job of adding to the big sourness of the beer.

The Peach Lambic pours out a very light orange color with just a bit of haze and sediment and almost no head. All the lambic style beers by Upland are bottle conditioned with wild yeasts, so they have some floaties in the bottles. When pouring a beer like this, make sure you don’t pour the last inch or so out of your bottle. That lets you leave most the yeast and some of the heavier sediment in the bottom of the bottle instead of your glass. The beer has big, acidic-sour aromas with just a little bit of peach in there. The flavor follows it nicely. Huge tartness, and I mean huge. Upland makes these guys sour enough to take the enamel off your teeth, but in a good way. The fruit mellows the sour out just enough to make it incredibly enjoyable.

At this point I’ve had just about all the lambics that Upland makes and the Peach is by far my favorite. The hints of sweet peach fruit flavor compliment the sourness of the lambic so well. I encourage you to get your hands on any of these sours— this one most of all— but sour newbies beware.

I give it a 5 out of 5

Recently, Upland formed the Secret Barrel Society (SBS), a reserve club that gives members better access to these amazing beers. Members are helping the brewery ramp up their sour program and add more barrels of this amazing beer to their warehouse, so in the future bottles can be on shelves throughout Indiana. If you’re interested check out their website to learn more about the SBS.

Event Review: Sour Wild Funk Fest

Andrew, Steve, Luke and I had the chance to attend this year's Sour Wild Funk Fest, put on by Upland Brewing Company.

The event was held at City Market, upstairs in Tomlinson Tap Room. I have to admit I was a little nervous about how the space would hold up to the event, but the crowd moved through the space better than I expected. There were only one of two places where things were uncomfortably crowded.

This was my favorite event last year of all the festivals we attended, so I had some pretty high hopes for what I'd get to try. There was a great selection of breweries, and all brought some unique offerings. A few of the breweries were tapped out before the end of the event, which I'm taking as a sign that I wasn't the only one enjoying what they had to offer.

Of all the beers I tried that afternoon, here were my favorites:

• Kiwi Saison, Flat 12 Bierwerks
• Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour Blueberry, Destihl Brewery
• La Folie (Lips of Faith), New Belgium Brewing Company

The team at Upland put together some exclusive components to the event for the members of the Secret Barrel Society and the event VIPs. Great additions- a VIP lounge with bathrooms, lunch before the event and dinner after, a presentation by Caleb, samples of the upcoming Upland and Oliver Winery collaborations, and an after party in the catacombs. I didn't even know we had catacombs. The only critique I have is that it made for a very long day to have things at the front and back of the event. Next year I'd prefer one or the other.

The Big Guy: I love this event. Brie laid it out pretty well for you guys, so I will just go ahead and list my favorite beers of the afternoon:

• Pink Ribbon Sour Saison by Triton Brewery
• Vinosynth White sour and wine blend by Upland
• Counter Clockweisse Berlinerweisse by Destihl Brewery

Oudbeitje, You betcha!

I've put a lot of sour things in my mouth.

For example, in summer camp as young lads, we would spend all our money at the canteen on sour warheads and see who could hold the most in their mouth without spitting them out, crying, or suffering from acute organ failure.  Despite burning off the lining of my cheeks and rendering all camp food tasteless (which was for the better), I still have an affinity for sour things.  Chocolate bars are great, but my preferred candy boon are sweet tarts and their ilk.

With the previous anecdote illuminated, it should be no surprise that from my first taste of a lambic, there has always been a special place in my heart and digestive lining for sour beers.  Ironically, I picked this up right after Prof. Beer and I had a discussion about how he feels like a more sour beer is just over the horizon and nothing really has accepted the challenge of his ambitious palate.  Literally twenty-four hours later and boom, this little unassuming and hard to pronounce strawberry lambic (or aardbeinenlambiek) is staring back at me from crowded Dutch style shelves, whispering soured black magic and making my poor, scarred cheek lining glisten with anticipation.

Have you ever been punched in the face?  It really sucks the first time, but after that, it's never as bad as the first time.  That is until you met Mike Tyson and he left you with a shattered jaw and negative three teeth.  I processed Prof. Beer's words as I poured out this strawberry blonde ale.  I smelled its acidic barnyard nose with strawberry buried deep, and I was excited to pucker and smack, but then all thought was washed away in what felt like a tidal wave made of fireworks, if those fireworks were made from the boot of every all-powerful god that smote men like ants.  So yeah, Mike Tyson.

This deceptive strawberry lambic sounds unassuming, but is one of the more powerful lambics I've had.  This is not for the sour faint of heart.  The strawberry is buried deep in the grassy lemon peel/apple vinegar, very similar to Upland's strawberry lambic.  I served it chilled.  You should definitely serve it chilled.  As it warmed up, the flavors opened up, including the sour funk.  Don't get me wrong, I am in love with all these things, but this is sipped, not thrown down like the girlishness attached to its strawberry moniker would make it seem.  I suggest breaking out the champagne flutes with some friends on this one.  Quality, not quantity.

Summer camp taught me a lot about extreme tastes, hazing, and dehydration, which are all things that have helped me survive my career as a formidable drinker, which is exactly how I would describe Hanssen's Artisinal Oudbeitje.  Formidable.

I puckered up and gave it a 4 out 5 heads

Upland Brewing Co. Strawberry Lambic

Within the craft beer community, locally and nationwide, Upland and its head brewer Caleb Staton, have been getting recognition for their growing sour program. With each release the number of people trying to obtain one of these rare bottles increases dramatically, leading to some gaming of the release system that Upland currently employs. Upland chooses, for better or worse, to use a lottery system where the person picking up their single bottle* need only show a drivers license with the winner's name on it- this means anyone (this means you lambic lovers in Alaska!) with an ID and a photocopier could win and receive their bottle provided they could a) go to one of the Upland taprooms or b) find some generous soul to pick-up and ship the bottle to the them (aka muling). At times this tends to cause a lot of grumbling among the Indiana craft beer fans who happen to lose the lottery, but I digress.

*Single bottle? Ha, their were stories of people picking up 40+ bottles at a time for "friends and family"... because who's grandma doesn't love tums-inducing liquified sweet tarts in a bottle?

Mmmm pink dregs!

Now that all the frenzy of the Upland Sour lottery/muling/pick-up has subsided, it's time to actually enjoy these beers! And enjoy them now you should! In talking to people close to Caleb, he has brewed these beers in a way that they are intended to Drink Fresh. Okay… seriously on to the beer. So what do we have exactly? According to the bottle: "Upland Lambics are fermented by wild yeast and aged in oak casks for a year… we then add whole strawberries from Huber Orchard in Starlight, Indiana…" 

I've heard stories of gushers on this release (be patient and properly chill your beer people), but nothing like that here as the cork comes off with a satisfying pop. It pours a murky, nearly opaque, pink with tinges of orange around the edges. Some light pink head with a vigorous pour (picture shows the last of the bottle and has some dregs), and forgiving the murkiness this is a very pretty looking beer. Aroma is very bright and fruity as one would expect, with notes of wild strawberries, lemon, green apple, and some general funkiness. The flavor mimics the nose, but the funk and strawberries takeover with additional notes of lacto and oak, before finishing with some sharp (but not unpleasant) acetic acid on the tip of the tongue. The mouthfeel starts off light and full of prickly carbonation, but the beer gets fuller because it's so damn sour that you're mouth starts producing a bunch of saliva. Once you get past the swallow the beer finishes dry.

Upland takes great pride in its sour program and this is a fine example. Imagine a strawberry sweet tart without all the artificial crap and that's a good place to start describing this beer. Very sour, but you still get the strawberries and some oakiness from those casks. It's difficult to rate beers like this in a vacuum because of the cost and effort involved to obtain, but I would still give this a solid 3.5/5 

Bellegams Bruin

The first time I had this beer I was at the local beer-topia of Twenty Tap.  My lady and I have a pension for sours and on the beer list was Brugge's oft respected Harvey and Bockor's Bellegam Bruin.  An improptu sour off was decided.  I had no idea what kind of beer I was getting other than the style being listed as "sour."  The waitress dropped off the lady's straw colored Harvey and my deep copper Oud Bruin and the server informed me is was a Flanders Sour ale.  Ooh!  Like Monk's Cafe!

Bockor's Bellegam Bruin was instantly delicious and tart.  Monk's Cafe is also delightfully sour, but other than that, the flavors tend to be under powered and leather bland.  Bellegams malts are big and sweet and all their flavors come through beautifully.

A West Flanders Brown ale is a bottom fermented ale with caramelized malts and mixed with lambic and finally aged in oak barrels for 18 months.

Typical to the style, a vinegar nose lights up the saliva glands and the first tastes of sweet malts and bready yeasts give way to a comfortable tart bitterness.   Bellegam's Bruin has a nice meaty-ness to it and really tucks the sour nicely into the brown ale's inherent cherry plums and round sweetness.

It's not overwhelmingly good, but neither is it as bland as the more popular Monk's Cafe.  It is very approachable for a sour and is great with red meat or especially Twenty Tap's savory and tangy Mush-reuben.

And in case you were wondering, my choice of the Oud Bruin won the sour taste off.

The Tide and Its Takers

photo courtesy of Anchorage Brewing Company

Like Ahab's white whale, this beer is a beast worth of devotion and furious obsession.  It deserves to be serenaded with sonnets and ballads strum upon pearlescent lutes leafed in hazy gold to match the yellow hued straw of this bottled sunlight.

Whereas big Imperial stout, or rich chocolate porters conjure images of dark velvets and language that is as laced and heady as a deep red wine, this Trippel, imbued with Bretts in an Oak Chardonnay barrel, is just as decadent, but with contrasting lightness.

It pours out like straw colored champagne and retains its head and lacing like the aforementioned beverage.  It holds a nice golden light and gives off a soft nose of yeast and lemon.  The addition of Bretanomyces really takes a solid Trippel and makes an incredibly nuanced beer more akin to wine than a straightforward beer.

Anchorage Brewing Company has really mastered the use of Bretts and have not feared the big bad monster of "wild yeasts."  Embracing the fact that they have been around souring beers before the discovery of sanitizing in the 19th century, it's another connection bridging modern brewing with the traditions of the past.  It's fitting that Belgians haven't shied away from this beast and for Anchorage to throw it into a Trippel is a nice touch

The tropical, peppery, earthy-ness that is lent to Bretts creates such a unique and subtle backbone to this exquisite Belgian.  You still get the zesty lemon/grapefruit, but it seems to be infused with an apple-pear crispness and the oak and chardonnay tartness really add to the surprisingly robust flavor. All that sharp and airy tartness has Bretts breath through it and adds that wonderful, earthy funk.

The name of this beer is spot on.  It really does feel like the ocean.  Light, breezy, wild, and satisfying to the core.

As far as Bretts beers go, this one is insanely approachable.  It would turn on any wine drinker with its white wine aspects.  It's not aggressively sour or funky and that's the beauty.  It takes an established style and elevates it to something wonderful.  A white whale in this under sailed sea of Bretts beers.

"...the waves should rise and fall, and ebb and flow unceasingly; for here, millions of mixed shades and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call lives and souls, lie dreaming, dreaming, still; tossing like slumberers in their beds; the ever-rolling waves but made so by their restlessness."
-Henry Melville, Moby Dick

5 adoring heads out of 5

The Drunk Dog Days of Summer

Beer has always been brewed and consumed on a seasonal basis.  It's natural.  Birds fly, cats hate dogs, and a grown ass bearded man doesn't drink an imperial milk stout after mowing the lawn in 95 degree weather.

As natural as seasonal brewing schedules are, I thought I had a good handle of what constitutes a good summer beer, but after haunting a summer of BBQs and get togethers, I found that what I thought would be the usual warm weather culprits were as varied as styles of ale.

In my curiosity, I've been asking everyone I know, from cicerones to bros what there favorite hot day summer beer are.  Below, I will break down the groups they fall into:

A Hick on Vacation: This moniker belongs to the wonderful beverage of a PBR with a lime wedge.  Shitty beers with limes in them have always been a favorite of mine.  It's light, it's quaffable, and the lme cuts through whatever shitty beer you put it into and gives it a bright citrus lift.  This is my, as well as the majority of hard workin 'Mericans favorite grill out bevie.

The Pale Wheat: Of the craft beers, I overwhelmingly saw American Pale Wheat Ales dominate this summer.  Beers like Three Floyd's Gumballhead, Lagunitas Lil Sumpin, Sumpin, and Bells Oberon.  In America, it seems like this is becoming the big summer brew.  It's pushing out what used to be staples like Wit and Helles beers.  Mass produced lagers may dominate the world, but American Pale Wheat Ales are taking over firework filled, smoked meat summers.

IPA is a Year Round Brew: Even after an afternoon of sweaty yard work, or a few hours of slogging snow off of the driveway, a good IPA always sounds good, especially if it's session-able like Schalfly Can Sessions IPA, or Founders All Day IPA.

An American on Vacation: Kolsch has seen a huge revival this summer with national and local breweries churning out their attempt at a German staple.  This unique lager has captured the American tastebud, and it's technical brewing process has peaked the craft brewers' curiosity.  The New York Times even had an article about its popularity.  There is also the usual cadre of Witbeirs from Blue Moon to Omegang Wit to sate that sweet tangy palate.

Well, That's Weird: Finally, the surprises of the summer were Sours.  I realize that sours are becoming insanely popular and that they involve fruits, but I didn't really think that people would be so excited about killing these funky sweet tarts.  Berlinerweisse style beers are a solid summer choice.  Bells Oarsman is a six pack easy to pair with any grilled meat, or sun soaked sweat-fest.  The absolute weirdest beer I received in response was Monk's Flemmish Ale, a favorite of mine on a cool fall night, but after hauling fifty pounds of mulch... no thanks.

I realize this recent summer weather has been more conducive to a Porter than a refreshing Kolsch. If you have lived in Indiana long enough you know that this means once August is in full swing, we will be in the 90s til Halloween.

Urine Trouble

There was a lot to live up to since this beer has the GREATEST NAME EVER! I about fell over laughing when I first found out that Three Floyds and Surly had come together to create a beer called Urine Trouble. I made a special trip up to the Three Floyds brewery to get a few of these bad boys.

Urine Trouble is a Double IPA with bret added to the mix. It pours out a beautiful straw golden color with a nice sized white head. The lacing was huge all the way down the glass and lasted the entire beer. Three Floyds said this brew smelled like "Cat peed on the Christmas tree". I'm a dog guy, so I don't know what cat pee smells like, but if this is it, cat pee doesn't smell so bad. Urine Trouble smells like fruity bret with some awesome pine and pineapple notes.

It even tastes better than it smells! It has great pineapple flavors with some awesome funk on the side. The funk is well mixed in with the existing DIPA flavor. The hops compliment the flavor with some serious pine bitterness. It does not forget that it's an IPA. It finishes up with a nice bit of boozy heat at 9% abv to lock everything together.

Between the bret and the high abv this is a perfect candidate for aging. The hops will die down a little bit but all the other flavors should meld well and really transform the beer. I have two more bottles of this that I plan on popping in six months and then sometime after that.

My hat is off to Three Floyds and Surly. This was a bold and innovative brew. Intense flavors dance up and down the glass in a crazy mix you aren't going to find anywhere else. I couldn't ask for more from a limited release beer.

I give it a solid four.

The Little Lady: I'm all for a good road trip, especially one that results in drinking good beer (responsibly of course since there's driving involved) and bringing some home. In these situations, Three Floyds has yet to  disappoint. I admit I was a bit hesitant when it came to trying this beer. The Big Guy and I had opposite reactions to the name and the holiday-cat-pee comments. I'm skeptical in general so this is no big surprise. What was surprising was how much I liked this beer. I tend to prefer Imperial/DIPAs to regular IPAs as I feel like there's a better balance of the hops with the rest of the flavors, especially with the stronger malt characteristics. True to the style, yes I'm looking at official guidelines, there was a beautiful amber color in the glass and a very smooth mouthfeel. It was clean and crisp without being harsh or biting. All in, a great beer!

I Heart Deesko

When it comes to beer, Germany is THE WORST, aber ich lieben sie immer noch*

The Berliner Weisse style typifies the discombobulation that is contemporary German beer culture.  As made evident by previous posts of German brews, I have made an effort to connect with brewing, drinking, and my own personal heritage. I have been doing a lot of digging into the beer of my mother country, since a cultural bastard has to pick which parent he spends Christmas with, right?  I had this utopian idea of German beer.  German styles are a part of American beer vernacular, but in Germany, the Lager Revolution in the early 1800's killed 99% of German styles.  The US and Germany suffer from the same problem, massive overcapacity has led to a cut throat supermarket beer industry where the cheapest beer wins.  I could go on and on about the ills plaguing the modern German beer culture, but there is one major difference that leads to my frustration: Germany hasn't had a mircobrew revolution...yet.

Germany has about 1200 breweries in a country with the same land mass as Montana.  There is only ONE brewery that brews and bottles the Berliner Weisse syle of beer.  ONE.  Yes, Berliner Weisse is like Trappist ale and Kölsch in that it is protected by the AOC and can only legally be brewed in Berlin, but Berlin is not a small place.  I need both hands to count on where I can locally find a Berliner Weisse.  There's always been discussion about the pedestal of quality German beers sit on.  The Reinheitsgebot and an inflated sense of importance have led to a severe lack of introspection.  It is unfathomable to think that Americans have helped unearth Germany's mythical old styles and brought them to the forefront of the US beer culture.

So here enters the American brewery, Three Floyd's, with their Berliner Weisse, I <3 Deesko.  Traditionally, Berliner Weissse is served with a shot of raspberry syrup (ein Rotes), a shot of woodruff syrup (ein Grünes), or any other flavored syrup (mit Schuss).  At their brewery, Three Floyd's carries on this tradition as well, a tradition that is definitely warranted.

This "sour" is not for the uninitiated.  I personally would not call Berliner Weisse a sour.  It is a tart ale, but a sour, ehh debatable.  Napolean called it the "champagne of the north."  He also said, "Woman are nothing but machines for producing children," so take his word at face value.  I <3 Deesko took the tart aspect and ran with it, stripping this yeasty Weisse away of it's fruit and effervescence into a death metal scream of sour punch.

Which I am definitely okay with.

The strong sour and apple vinegar, lemon peel notes from this brew push it more to the Gueuze Lambic side of tart beers (See my previous post about those delicious Belgian Sours).  That and it smelled like a sweaty hobo, to which Professor Beer responded with, "You have experience in that?"...maybe, but nose, mouthfeel, and clairty aside, the yaup of the sour beast of pestilence and doom turned this light summer beer to 11.

Which, again, I am definitely okay with.

With "Freigeist Bierkultur (Free spirit Beer Culture)" bucking the Reinheitsgebot and pulling pages from their Belgian neighbors and American beer anarchy, there is momentum.  For the new wave of German brewers to be successful, they face the same problems independent brewers did by convincing consumers that premium beers are worth the extra cost, as well as dealing with, or working with competition from the traditional Brauhaus and nano-breweries that litter Fanconia and communities throughout Germany.

If I were to rate this as a Berliner Weisse, I would give it a 2, but as an American Sour, I would totally make this the 4th Horseman of the Sourpocalypse

*Caveat: I realize this statement and some of the tone makes me sound like an elitist asshole.  Some of which I will own up to and some may be do to slight hyperbole as part of my narrative and sardonic wit.  I don't dislike Germans or their beer history to which most of the world stands on, its just that the punk in me is just frustrated that a country with such a rich history of brewing is stymied the same way Americans are.  I don't want to alienate German readers, but put down that Beck's and let's talk this out, brah.

The Big Guy: Damn I love this beer. El Duque said a lot... so DAMN I LOVE THIS BEER. Probably going to get into my favorites of the year.








Professor Beer:  Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch this beer on tap at Three Floyds (with the syrups), but I was able to grab a few bottles.  To me it tasted more like a traditional sour than a Berliner Weisse, but either way it was great.

Sour Wild Funk Fest

I had a chance to tag along to another event with The Big Guy, O-Dawg, and O-Dawg's wife last Saturday. The four of us went down to the Broadripple area of Indianapolis for the Sour Wild Funk Fest.


As the name implies, the event was all about highlighting sour beers. There were over 50 different varieties of sours to try, and some others that weren't sours but were nice compliments to the other optiosn the breweries brought. To be totally honest, if there had only been sours I'm pretty sure my taste buds would have been fried and I would have missed out on some of the aspects of these beers that make them so unique.


Breweries participating included:

• Avery
• Barley Island
• Bells
• Bier
• Black Acre
• Bloomington Brewing Co.
• Brugge
• Crown Brewing
• Destihl
• Flat 12
• Goose Island
• Mad Anthony
• New Belgium
• Perennial Artisan Ales
• River Town
• Sam Adams
• Sun King
• Triton

Obviously we had a lot of choices. I can't say that I tried them all, but I can say that of the ones I did try, Sun King's Pink Taco was my favorite. Yes the name is ridiculous, but that's kind of why I ordered it. This sour was light and refreshing, not overwhelming like some sours can be. According to the Sun King website (yes, I did research) the ale is aged in oak barrels along with rasberries and hibiscus. Not a combination I would have predicted for a beer, but one that really added some nice depth and intricacies to the overall flavor experience. (That sounds pretentious but I promise the beer is anything but.)

All in, we had a great time. This is definitely an event I'll be looking to do again next year!


Weigh in: O-Dawg

Beer Festivals are awesome, but the hardest part about them is staying away from "The Dark Side."  You all know what I am talking about!  There is a point in an evening of drinking and revelry where one is on the cusp of the perfect balance of booze, buzzed and cognizant/fun.  A smidgen too much booze too fast and you are passed out drunk, face planted in the asphalt with your feet in a cooler.  

I think the group did a fine job of riding that cusp and having a blast!  A big thank you to the folks up front for spotting the Mrs. a full drinking ticket as opposed to a DD.  Everyone had a little bit of fun watching my wife try sours (when she isn't much of a beer drinker to begin with). Another thank you to Joe for keeping the festival up beat and fun, now where's my T-Shirt?!

Stand Outs: 4.5-5's ALL!

Dantalion: Upland Brewing Company - Bloomington, IN <- Thanks JOE!
Bourbon Aged Grand Poobah: Crown Brewing Company - Crown Point, IN
Goudenband: Brouwerij Liefmans - Oudenaarde, België, Belgium
Odio Equum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale: Avery Brewing Company - Boulder, CO
Barrel-Aged Sour Warlock: Crown Brewing Company - Crown Point, IN

The brewery that stole the show was a relative unknown to me until this festival, Crown Brewing Company out of Crown Point, IN.  

They brought with them their: 
Blueberry Berliner (3, brewed just for the Sour Wild Funk Fest)
Bourbon Barrel Aged Cherry Dunkleweizenbock (3.5)
Bourbon Barrel Ages Grand Poobah (5)
Barrel Aged Sour Warlock (4.5) 

I hope to stop by there next time I am in the area!  Cheers!

Weigh in: The Big Guy

This was a great festival. I loved that it was smaller than most of the festivals that I have been to. The lines were smaller, there were fewer breweries and brews, and everyone had a little bit more room to breathe. They announced that there would be food pairings, but it was mostly cheeses and fruits. I wasn't sure how they were going to do it and I really didn't know if there was going to be a good way of doing it, but this was a bit underwealming. The beers were awesome. I have never had that many different sours in one time frame and it totally kicked my taste bud's ass. Worse than doing hoppy beer after hoppy beer. 

Standouts were:

Odio Equum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale: Avery Brewing Company - Boulder, CO (straight 5)
Petrus Aged Pale: Brouwerij Bavik - Belgium (straight 5)
Pink Taco: Sun King Brewery - Indianapolis, IN (straight 5)

Barrel-Aged Sour Warlock: Crown Brewing Company - Crown Point, IN (big 4.5)

  

There wasn't just one brewery that stole the show for me. I was able to find some pretty great stuff from just about everyone that was there. It was a very impressive showing. I know that sours can be harder to brew, but there was some real thought put into these. It was a great show and the only thing I am disappointed about was not getting VIP tickets. Next time it will be a serious internet watch to try and get'em.

The Scene: Midwest Sour Wild Funk Fest 2013 Tickets

Guess what...  Tickets hit the digital shelves at 12 midnight yesterday/this morning.

VIP disappeared like a fat kid with a piece of chocolate cake.  It was about as bad at trying to snag ANY ticket for Dark Lord Day (don't even get me started on that...).  All gone within the first few seconds of live ticket sales.

As of writing this General Admission ($45) and Designated Driver ($20) tickets are still available.

/sigh Guess I will have to wait till next year to get VIP.  I was really looking forward to the presentation, discussion, and tasting with Uplands Head Brewer, Caleb Staton.  I am a huge fan of his work.  Getting the history and process of brewing from "The Man" himself would have been AWESOME!  Hope to see you there!

Lips of Faith: Tart Lychee

The Lips of Faith series is put together by New Belgium Brewing Company. It is an American Wild Ale with 7.5% abv and 20 IBUs. It is a blended ale that is 56% ale aged in oak and 44% ale brewed with lychee and cinnamon.

It poured a light caramel color with no head to speak of. The beer itself had a cloudy color. It had a fruit and berry aroma with a little bit of cinnamon.

Each sip was like a fruity bundle of joy in my mouth. It was sweet and sour with a nice tart cherry or raspberry flavor up front. The body of it was still tart but it had a nice oak-y backbone with hints of cinnamon. The woodiness helps to mellow out the sour flavor. It finishes off tart and dry with a lasting tanginess. It is a very well balanced sour beer.

This had a light mouth feel with almost no carbonation. It was smooth and dry. It was the perfect beer to have with Chinese food. The sweet and sour flavor matched up perfectly with my pork fried rice.

Great beer, and my wife liked it too. This is one I will look for again.

I give it a 4

Lips of Faith Brett Beer

I picked this one up on a whim. I really like a lot of what New Belgium does out there, and I am always excited to try a collaboration beer. This is part of the Lips of Faith Series as well as a collaboration with The Lost Abbey brewery. It has an abv of 7.5%

The beer poured out very light with a clear golden yellow color. It had about one inch of white fluffy head. It had a very fruity sweet aroma.

The beer was not what I expected. It had a sweet and fruity flavor with some strong bready malt taste. The fruit gave it a slight tang that made it the most mild sour ever brewed. I didn't think it was a sour until I checked their website. For a style that is so in your face this was subtle to the point of disappointing. There was however a nice, light complex hop finish that did its best to cover up the tang and additional alcohol flavor but didn't have much success. It was a fine combination of citrus and pine which finished the beer off very clean. Although the flavors were good, the beer was not very impressive.

It had a very light mouth feel to it with light carbonation. It lacked much back bone, and came off a little bit light and boring in taste and feel. The hops were light. The sour was barely noticeable and the malt was nothing to write home about. Really there was nothing exceptional about this brew.

Seriously I think I am being generous, I give it a 2

Not your Oude-anary Sour

I like my sours like I like my women, tart, with a champagne bottle and Belgian.

Sours, just like the rest of the beer world, are defined heavily by their region.  Belgian brewing history is written in tapestries on Trappist walls.  It is time honored and damned good, and has hordes of nerdy middle aged men hiring private investigators to find them bottles of that perfect trappist ale.  Nerds.

I never caught that bug.

But Belgian sours caught me.  Like the kid in your fourth grade class doing lines of crushed up smarties off his Hardy Boys books, I can't stop quaffing these tart punches to the palate.

I emphasize BELGIAN sours.  American breweries dipped into the styles popularity in around 2006, and as Americans do, messed with the formulas to create some stunning mouth twisters, and some horrific palate ruiners.

The popular Oudes (OOh-duh) fall into two categories: Oude Gueuze (OOh-duh Gyooze) and Oude Kriek (OOh-duh Creek).  Oude is the Dutch word for old, and yes I know this is a Belgian beer, it's not my fault they can't figure out what language to speak.  Old is in reference to the process.  Young (1 year) lambic is mixed with old (2-3 year lambic) for a second fermentation.  The young lambics still have some fermentable sugars, which is why a second fermentation is possible.

If you leave it at that, you have the Oude Gueuze.  When sour cherries are added to the second fermentation, you have the Oude Kriek.

Two delicious beers that make love to your tongue in ways that would make Al Green blush.

I will be reviewing the two oudes made by Oud Beersel, a brewery that has been in operation since 1882 and specializing in lambics.  In 2005, it was bought from the original family and revitalized into an award winning brewery that carries on the lambic tradition.  Are there better?  Yes, but if this is your first forays into these sour lambics, you can't beat the price for the outstanding consistency and quality that Oud Beersel puts out.

Oude Gueuze: 
Once you get past the apple vinegar odor and fruit fly flash back nightmares, this beer is powerfully tasty.

It pours a cloudy amber gold with a frothy head and energetic carbonation that expends itself fast.  This beer moves through your palate and splashes it with a variety of flavors.  Green Granny Smith apples and some Golden Delicious pop up here and there too.  As the sourness sets in, it transitions into more of an apple peel and lemon taste.  It settles more sour than it started, but just remember, it's gonna be strongly sour throughout.

It finished with that malty bread/farmhouse cheese funk and grass.  I know that sounds weird, but all the flavors so far are earthy, so the wild yeast tang makes sense in this brew.

The mouthfeel is light and dry and a light pucker, but this gueuze is smooth.

I liken this to a really dry, more sour cider.  You will have those strong fruits, but far more sour.  There are better Gueuze out there, but for the amount, the money, and the utter smoothness of this beer, you can't beat it.

Solid 4 foamy heads out of five

Oude Kriek:
This is definatly my go to oude kriek.  Unlike a lot of breweries these days that try to market an artisinal beer, yet add sugars to reduce the farmhouse taste of the wild yeast and cut through the powerful tart, this beer adds nothing but happiness to your life.

Like O.D.B., oooh baby I like it raw.

Which is obvious from the first strong odors of vinegar from the aged lambic.  If you aren't prepared, it will catch you off guard.

This is a good balance between sour and tart.  It's sweet and crisp.  The cherries are sharp and cut the usual farmhouse taste you can get from those wild yeasts.  

Oud Beersel boasts that their Kriek has 400 grams of cherries per liter.  Which in our Imperial measurement system means... there's a lot of cherries, but this is not a Cerise.  The cherries give it a deep foundation.  A subtle richness.  Velvet.

It ends with the French cheese grassy-ness that is associated with the wild yeasts in aged lambics.

This is a rich and balanced brew that would be a great way to add some variety to your palate, or act as a gateway to sours and aged lambics.  It's velvety and sexy, and oh so good.  I'd call it the Prince of the Kriek world, even without the assless cheetah print pants.

4.5 heads out of 5

Sun King Tap Takeover

Sun King came up from downtown and took over the taps at Chatham Tap in Fishers. They brought eight beers with them and dominated the bar. 

I am not sure what I was expecting, but it was mostly the normal bar at Chatham with some taps changed out (when I went to a Bells take over they had stickers, raffles etc.). The cool thing was, Sun King brought some of their rare and hard to find beers. If you like something different this was a great event.

I had three of their beers, the Bourbon Barrel Aged Maibock, Stupid Sexy Flanders (sour), and Timmie Imperial Stout.

These are all beers that I was excited to try. I missed the Sourfest, but I heard good things about Stupid Sexy Flanders.

The Bourbon Barrel Aged Maibock was my favorite. It was 8.4% abv and 24 IBU Bavarian Spring Lager that was nine months barrel aged. It reminded me of an Oktoberfest, but lighter. The nose was basically honey and bourbon. The beer showed up with a great looking light brown or dark yellow color and a light white head. It tasted like caramel, toffee and natural honey. The bourbon mingled well with all the different sweet flavors without the usual vanilla flavor that you get from a bourbon barrel aged beer. It helped balance the whole thing out. It had a heavy alcohol finish.

I give it a 4.5

I had the Stupid Sexy Flanders next. This sour or wild ale had 5.4% abv and 23 IBUs. I have not done a lot of sours, so the review is going to be brief. I liked it a lot. The beer was a dark red to mahogany in color with no head.  It had a nice sweet and sour flavor to it that took some getting used to. It reminded me of bitter berries and red wine vinegar, but it was not very fruity. The flavor was complex and very very unique. I recommend you get your hands on it when you can.

I give it a 3.5

Lastly I tried Timmie Imperial Stout. Timmie has 10% abv and 70 IBUs. It came out in a tulip glass. It was a dark brown to black oil colored beer. It smells like heavily roasted malts and boozy alcohol. The beer started off with a very nice dark roasted flavor, not super smokey but it was nicely balanced. The malts tasted like baking chocolate and coffee. There was a nice sharp bitterness with the sweetness. I am not sure that the hops came out heavily but the beer's flavors were so well balanced it was not needed.

I give it a 4