Sac Beer Log on Twitter!!

Sac Beer Log can now be followed on twitter http://twitter.com/sacbeerlog

Check it out!!!

Odonata Saison Release Party @ The Shack 4/30/2010

Sacramento has a relatively new name in Belgian-Style Ales. Odonata Beer Co. has been producing some choice beers recently and now I have the pleasure of reviewing one of them and being part of something that I think has a bright and prosperous future. With the unexpected close up of Sacramento Brewing Company, head brewmaster Peter Hoey and partner Rick Sellers formed Odonata Beer Co. in 2009. In the past I have had the opportunity to sample the Odonata Water Witch Belgian Strong Ale. That brew alone got me hooked and needless to say I was stoked to be one of the first to try the Saison.

Saisons are sometimes referred to as Farmhouse ales and the style has its roots with ales that were brewed early in the year for summer consumption. Today the style has been reintroduced and defined by Brasserie Dupont in Belgium and often the yeast strains cultivated for Saisons are derivative of the Dupont yeast. The style is very unique in many ways, however there is no real homogeneity in the flavors of the Saisons I have come across.

The Odonata take on the style is first of all really good. Coming in at 6.4% abv, the beer packs a mild punch and fits well in the Saison flavor spectrum. The aroma is mildly sweet and the initial sip is as well. However, after that the flavor get much more complex. This is a hoppy take on a Saison without a doubt. The malt is not heavy and somewhat drier then I would have expected. In an effort to be constructive here, I would say that the yeast (Dupont yeast to be exact)  is being outshone by the hops. Saisons, in my experience and opinion, are a showcase for the yeast. In reality though, I actually enjoy this rendition because of its use of hops. I feel that any ale made in California should be a little heavy handed with hops... This beer can be summed up in one word in my opinion, rustic! It has an earthy and rustic taste that is unique and awesome. I am really looking forward to the bottle version of this beer. I think the bottle conditioning will create some flavors from the yeast that are missing from the tap version.

For good measure my compatriots and I put this beer along a Dupont Foret. Needless to say these are wildly different beers and comparing them doesn't do justice to either one. The Odonata is even more hoppy after drinking the Foret and the Foret is wildly aromatic and sweet when compared to the Odonata.

Either way, two Kick-Ass beers and one Kick-Ass release party at a place that never fails to produce good food and good beer. 

-Cheers!!!

Westvleteren 12 @ Pangaea Cafe (Sacramento Beer Week), by S. Joe Griffin

Our favorite beer-blog author was unable to make it to what may have been the pinnacle of Sacramento’s Beer Week—the Westvleteren 12 tasting at Pangaea Café. I realize that Beer Week is long over and this write up is long overdue. Eh, oh well. On to the marvelous tale!

The tasting wasn’t cheap, $40 to taste a handful of Belgian beers with cheese pairings put together by food-man Big Mike Moore. Forty clams would be wildly overpriced if not for the final two ounces of the evening.

For those readers of this blog who are unfamiliar with Westvleteren 12, allow me a few sentences of background. Westvleteren is made at the Trappist St. Sixtus Monastery in Belgium and is probably the most exclusive beer in the world. The monks at St. Sixtus have some strange urge to deprive the world of their beer and unlike all the other Trappist beers, theirs is only sold from either the brewery or the monastery café and in quantities no larger than one case per visitor. This means that the beer widely regarded as the world’s best is almost impossible to find outside of a few Belgian pubs, ebay, and the monastery itself.

For more love: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/westvleteren-12/4934/ ‘nuff said.

Rob, the gent who owns and runs Pangea was presented with a handful of bottles of this rare brew by a friend of his. In a move as saintly as the monks themselves, Rob decided to share this windfall with his loyal customers. Every drop of the beer he had was poured into the little sampler glasses we giddy fans clutched in our beer loving hands.

Of course that wasn’t the whole story. Prior to the Westvleteren we were treated to beer and cheese pairings that were on the whole good. Big Mike got all the cheese for the pairings at Nugget which was convenient for those of us who found something they liked and wanted more. The pairings were good, in each case beer and cheese were of similar complementary character. Lets zip through them briefly.

First off was Dupont Foret paired with Seal Bay Triple cream. Foret is a saison from the folks who define the style, Foret being their organic version. As one who prefers his apples worm free, I was surprised to find awhile ago that I much prefer Foret to Saison Dupont the other (inorganic?) version. Seal Bay is a super creamy brie-like chesse. It is good but forgettable. The combination is ok, but it felt like this was set up intentionally as the boring low-ball flavor pair. The cheese was so bland that it seemed to bring down the beer. I prefer to pair a good saison like this with crusty old salty aged gouda, brings out the flavor in both—of course I like aged gouda with damn near any beer.

Round two was Affligem Blonde paired with Tillamook Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar. That was fine I suppose.

Following that was Chimay White paired with Chimay Cheese. The Chimay cheese is a moderately pungent fresh soft cheese. It would probably be better with one of the heavier more flavorful Chimays—red or blue, but white was ok. Chimay white is the quietest of the Chimay family if you ask me, and the cheese may have drowned it out a little. Still a tasty pair—keeping it in the family.

Batting clean-up was Grimbergen Dubbel with Gran Queso. Grimbergen is not my favorite dubbel, but it’s tasty enough and the Gran Queso was a really good pair. Gran Queso is a slightly harder cheese like a softer version of Manchengo or something. It’s tasty, and despite the name, not Spanish at all.

The last pair before the big show was Tripel Karmeliet teamed up with Cypress Grove Chevre Goat Cheese. This was an interesting pair—the goat cheese was a big nasty flavorful delicious bleu cheese like affair and Tripel Karmeliet is a sweet tripel. The cheese made the beer taste like caramel syrup and the combination was surprisingly tasty.

Finally, at long last we got about an ounce and a half of Westvleteren 12. It is difficult to describe the flavor of the beer, very full bodied it feels almost like drinking a slice of bread. The flavor is pronounced but not overwhelming. The taste was nutty and perfectly balanced, nothing stood out or was lacking. It is difficult to describe other than to say it tasted very right.

I went to the shindig to have a swig of Westvleteren and of course it would have been all worth it for that alone, but I wound up really enjoying the beer and cheese pairings. I like cheese as much as the next guy, and I certainly like beer, but I’d never really given any thought to pairing them. I’ve done the wine and cheese thing of course, and that’s all well and good (though Big Mike is critical of pairing wine with cheese, he thinks they taste metallic together), but now I’ve started playing around with beer and cheese. It’s a lot of fun, get a few cheeses and a few beers and see how they taste together. You get beer and you get cheese. How do you beat that?

- S. Joe Griffin

Note: I would like to personally thank Joe for going to the trouble of drinking the best beer in the world and writing this blog in my stead since I could not be there... Cheers!!! - Brian

Pale Ale Taste Test: v1.0

Every now and then one has a great idea. However, one rarely ever gets the chance to execute such an idea. In my case the best ideas seem to come around when I least expect them and fortunately they often involve beer. This time around it was in the form of a linear blind taste test. The theory behind this practice is that if you are unaware of the beer you are drinking, then all biases are removed and you can decide if you like the beer or not. Also, all preconceived notions about the flavor profile are removed and you are able to not only judge the beer with an even hand, but you can also try and take a stab at which beer you think you might be drinking. It's fun and scientific!!!

When setting up a "Blind Taster", as they have come to be known to me and my fellow beer drinking cohort, I have found that the best ones group together beers of a similar type or season. While I am no beer judge, nor do I really know what each type should taste like... I do know what I like and what I don't. In this instance Pale Ales were the name of the game. While this beer type has the tendency of being all over the board in taste, I decided that I would pick some fairly well known California Pale's and see how each stacked up to the other.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, North Coast Red Seal, Bear Republic XP, and Hoppy Brewing Co. Liquid Sunshine. (The later is technically a golden ale, but this was a hasty trip to BevMo and the liquid sunshine is a damn good beer!!)

The beer was poured into unmarked glasses, they were numbered from left to right 1-4 respectively. I drank them and ranked them...

Ranking:

1) 2nd (tie)

2) 2nd (tie)

3) 4th

4) 1st (favorite)

Results:

1) Hoppy Brewing Co. Liquid Sunshine

2) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

3) Bear Republic XP

4) North Coast Red Seal

Short Reviews:

1)Hoppy Brewing Co. Liquid Sunshine

This beer was sort of the black sheep of the group as it was radically different from the rest. It is not really a pale ale so much as a really hoppy golden ale. However, it may be the only thing that Hoppy Brewing makes that would even fit with these others. So, with that in mind it is a good beer regardless. Light and crisp with a good hop aroma and flavor. The malt is well balanced with the hops. Citrus flavors come through and it is probably the beer I would see myself drinking in the summertime.

2) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

This was the most unexpected answer overall. I thought that this beer was anything but Sierra Nevada. If I had to break the tie on taste alone, this would be 3rd. Since it is actually a pale ale I decided to make it a tie. I felt it was a little bland and uninteresting. The hop aroma was subdued and although balanced with the malt it was a little thinner than I was expecting given the color. Not a bad beer at all. Perhaps I have had too much of this beer in the past and my taste buds are saying "enough already"...

3)Bear Republic XP

This was definitely the least favorite by far. The malt was over the top and sweet as hell. Very caramel like. There was a little hop flavor, no aroma, and a very heavy mouthfeel. I would not drink this beer if I had a choice. I will however give Bear Republic the benefit of the doubt as I think that this beer may have been under-fermented (things happen). I have had the XP before and remember a much different beer.

4)North Coast Red Seal

This beer is amazingly good. I thought without a doubt this was Sierra Nevada... I was incontrovertibly wrong! The hop aroma was upfront and the balance between the malt and hops were perfectly harmonious. Just the right amount of bitter. I really enjoyed this beer alot! It may be the best Pale Ale available. Although as always, more testing is required.

Note: This really ended up being a battle between Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and North Coast Red Seal. The others were kind of peripheral in the tasting as I really felt like hashing it out between these two beers that I like so much. Red Seal prevails...

Sacramento Beer Week: Friday, February 26th... Rubicon Cask Ales and 3 Fires Lounge

Friday night of beer week marked the final stretch of the week long festivities... with only two more days left to soak in the beer culture of Sacramento I had my heart set on a fantastic Cask Ale tasting at Rubicon Brewing Co. This was to be the coup de grace of my beer week experience. Even though Saturday and Sunday were chalk full of good events, Friday is where I conclude my Beer Week postings and wrap up my overall take on the first ever Sacramento Beer Week. The night started off promising and full of excitement. However, a snag in the plan and forces beyond my control denied me what I had been looking forward to all week. Eventually the night would lead me the 3 Fires Lounge where I was able to partake of some fairly decent Belgian ales.

Rubicon Brewing Co.

Arriving at the Rubicon it was apparent that many people were also excited about Cask Ales as trying to enter the establishment proved to be somewhat difficult. Finding a place to sit was nigh impossible... so I stood and tried to get to the bar and partake in some Cask conditioned goodness. I got up to the bar and looked over the Cask Ale list... It was as follows,

Rubicon IPA

Sierra Nevada BROWN ALE

Bear Republic Brewing Company’s APEX

Stone Brewing Company’s ARROGANT BASTARD

Sudwerk’s UNFILTERED MÄRZEN

Auburn Alehouse GOLD DIGGER I.P.A.

Moylan’s Brewing Company MOCHA PORTER

I decided to hold off on a full blown sampler of all of them until I had a seat. I decided instead to go with the Apex I.P.A. However, to my immediate chagrin I was was informed that all of the Cask Ales, with the exception of the Sierra Nevada Brown Ale, were gone!!! What?? I looked at my phone to check the time... not even 8:00pm... Oh well... give me a Brown Ale then! Got my beer, found an open seat outside and drank it. It was really good. Not much else to say there... Sierra Nevada does good stuff and a Cask conditioned Brown Ale does not disappoint. At least I was able to get one of the specialty beers. Hopefully next year during Beer Week this event, if it is slated to happen again, is a little more well thought out. Regardless, I was able to get my hands on one of the few pints left of the event and was thankful I didn't arrive any later than I did.

3 Fires Lounge

The next stop was the 3 Fires Lounge, located at 1501 L st. in downtown Sac. All week they had been offering specials on some select Belgian ales. As a last shot at drinking some good beer during beer week, I and some friends I had met up with walked down to this establishment to check it out. Somewhat of an upscale bar/lounge, the setting was a stark contrast to the normal brew pub surroundings that I am used to. Nonetheless I acquired both Belgians that were on the special and shared them with the group. Both were wheat based ales, one of them in my opinion was definitely better than the other.

Le Grande Blanche (De Proefbrouwerij; bvba Andelot) was very smooth and sweet. Similar to a saison but lighter in body and more carbonated. This is a beer I would definitely drink again. The second selection, and the one I found to be just o.k. was Blanche De Bruxelles (Brasserie Lefèbvre SA). Another wheat based ale, this one was very light and the key flavors I was looking for were underwhelming. Honestly, the beer is good... just not what I would choose to drink if I had the choice. The spices, coriander and orange peel flavors come through more than the malt or yeast flavors and tend to be distracting. Overall Le Grande Blanche may be one of my new go to belgians in the future... further experimentation in required!

As Sacramento Beer Week came to a close (for me anyway) I was reminded that Sacramento has a strong affinity for the brew! All events were fun to some degree and I was able to observe some real unity between people towards a common interest. I am looking forward to the next manifestation of Beer Week and having been part of the first ever implementation of such an idea I am sure that next year I will be better prepared and hopefully more active in my approach. All in all, not a bad start!!!

till next year...

Sacramento Beer Week: Thursday, Feb. 25th... Hoppy Brew Tour and Rubicon Moylans/Marin Guest Beers

Thursday night presented an opportunity to try an eclectic mix of micro-brew concoctions from Moylans and Marin brewing companies. However, in an attempt to gain some insight on the brewing process, I returned to Hoppy Brewing Co. for their open house event and brewery tour earlier in the day. Not to mention partaking in one of their many flavorful beers on tap. As a precursor event, it was a good way to get into the mood of beer week...

Hoppy Brewing Co.

From the dining area of the Hoppy Brewing Co. one can easily see through a back window an amalgamation of steel and hoses configured in such a way that one may think of a scientist's laboratory. Well, in all honesty this isn't too far from the truth. In fact, much of what goes on behind the double doors is a repeated process of experimentation and formulation that has every possibility of failing in some respect... However, judging by the consistency of taste and overall quality of Hoppy brewing it would seem that failure is unlikely. Instead, the surprising aspect of Hoppy's brewing operation is the relatively small size. One mash tun and one boiler is all, however five 628 gallon fermenters (one of which is double sized) makes sense as you really need the most time for fermentation anyway. The highest producing and selling beer they make is the Hoppy Face Amber Ale, a really good amber IPA. As an amateur homebrewer much of the information on the tour was a rehashing of what I already had a fairly good idea about. I just happen to find this stuff really interesting... Overall, good beer and a decently productive brewing operation.

Rubicon Brewing Co.

Thursday night was the first truly large event at Rubicon during Beer Week(in my opinion) as they were hosting a fair assortment of beers from Moylans and Marin Brewing companies. Always a welcomed deviation from Rubicon's house ales, guest taps offer a new dimension to any brewery. Also, when a brewery can showcase another brewery's beers exclusively, it shows a certain amount of camaraderie in the brewing community that is welcoming. On draft was as follows...

MOYLAN'S BEERS

Pomegranate Wheat

Danny's Irish Red Ale

Dragoon's Dry Irish Stout

MARIN'S BEERS

Point Reyes Porter

Albion Amber Ale

E.S. CHI

Mt. Tam Pale Ale

I am not going to give a review of each of these, however there are a couple of standouts... and weirdnesses.

First the weird... The E.S. Chi ale just didn't quite taste right. It is an E.S.B. style ale brewed with Chinese herbs. I got the British ale taste for sure but the after taste is hard to get through... personally this is just too weird... Moylan's Brewing makes one of my favorite beers ever! Kiltlifter Scottish Ale... however they did not send this to Rubicon. Instead they sent a decent Irish red (very smooth) and a better than average Stout. The pomegranate wheat was very sweet and dry and not my style really, but not bad for what it is. The standout here was Marin's Mt. Tam Pale Ale. Very well balanced and flavorful. A pretty standard tasting west coast pale ale, but done very well and easy to drink!! Overall it wasn't a showcasing of the best beers that these companies make... but it was a fun evening nonetheless!!

Note: I forgot my camera at home, so I had to improvise to put up a picture... looks fine to me!!

On to Friday...

Sacramento Beer Week: Wednesday Feb. 24th... Townhouse Lounge, Rubicon Brewing Company

Beer week approaching it's Mid-point offered a host of good deals and many food pairing events. Wednesday I decided to play it fairly low key and check out an easily accessible beer showcase at the Townhouse Lounge of Sudwerk Brewing Co. Beers. As the night progressed however a change of venue would lead me down to the Rubicon Brewery for some libationary vindication of sorts. Not the most eventful night in store, but a night of beer appreciation nonetheless.

The Townhouse Lounge

The Townhouse Lounge is located on 21st st. between O and P streets in Midtown Sacramento. The place itself is fairly small, but the sign outside has a retro appeal as if something out of the 1950's. For beer week they were showcasing Sudwerk Brewing Co. (Davis, CA) by offering $2 bottles of a choice assortment of their beers. Also, a small table was set up with fliers and a tin bucket full of Sudwerk beer bottles alongside logo imprinted plastic keg cups. They were offering a tasting of each of the beers featured for $2, or so I thought... in actuality it was free, even better!! They only had four types of beer presented and none were anything you couldn't pick up at your local store. They had their Marzen, Hefeweizen, Helle's Lager, and Pilsner. If I had to rank then on a scale of 1-10: Marzen 7.5, Hefeweizen 6, Helle's Lager 7, Pilsner 6. Middle of the road brews, however I have been told that the brewery itself produces some pretty outstanding beers that are available at their brewhouse in Davis...

Rubicon Brewing Co.

In search of some beer with more character, Rubicon Brewing Co. seemed like the safe and fairly reliable choice. Located a stones throw from the Townhouse Lounge on 20th and Capitol, this Brewery/Restaurant has become a staple in my beer adventure repertoire. For Beer Week, Wednesday at the Rubicon featured a Beer and Sausage pairing with all of their house beers being matched up with various Morrant's Old Fashioned Sausages. Arriving at the Rubicon it was pretty obvious that the beer and sausage event had been well exhausted... no matter, it wasn't this event that had caught my attention anyhow. Instead, it was a guest tap from Lagunitas Brewing called Ryan's Folly, an imperial double IPA. Supposedly brewed with Sacramento Beer Week in mind, this beer is amazingly good!!! The malt character is slightly nutty and sweet with just the right amount of heaviness. The hops are perfectly bitter and fairly aromatic. A fairly dark beer with a little mahogany highlight and a thin cream colored head this beer is aesthetically pleasing as well as tasty!!!

On to Thursday...