New Glarus Spotted Cow
28 Oct 2009 1 Comment
in beer Tags: cask, new glarus, spotted cow, wisconsin
I had no idea what to expect from New Glarus’s Spotted Cow “cask conditioned ale” when I picked up a bottle in Wisconsin last month, but I was pleasantly surprised by this tasty little beer. According to New Glarus’s website, Spotted Cow is an homage to traditional cask conditioned ales, with an ABV of only 4.8% and a “fun, fruity and satisfying” flavor profile.
I got no aroma from this beer, but again, I was drinking in little white plastic hotel cups, and I had a bit of a cold, so who knows? The beer is made from Wisconsin-grown barley, malt and even corn, and the flavor profile was definitely sweet with really no hint of hops at all. Despite this lack of hops and bitterness, and even though Spotted Cow tasted sweet to me, it wasn’t cloying or overpowering like a doppelbock usually is to me. I really enjoyed this beer and I think it’d make a great session beer.
The flavor was sweet, kind of fruity, but hard to nail down exactly what kind of fruit. It had a nice, heavy, creamy mouthfeel with low carbonation, so it was really smooth and easy to drink. Between the sweetness and the mouthfeel I almost felt like I was drinking milk! I thoroughly enjoyed Spotted Cow and wish we had it here locally for a nice session beer alternative to our own locally grown Wheat!
Capital Brewery Wild Rice Lager
25 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in beer Tags: capital brewery, lager, rice, wisconsin
Another beer review from my Wisconsin trip last month! I was very impressed by Capital Brewery’s Autumnal Fire doppelbock, reviewed previously, and the other beer I tried from them was almost the polar opposite, their Wild Rice lager.
This is one of Capital Brewery’s seasonal beers, produced for the summer of 2009. Previous to ’09, the beer had not been produced since 2005, but I was glad they resurrected it! I don’t know what I was thinking when I picked this off the shelf… I mean, “wild rice?” An adjunct lager? I was REALLY going to take up a spot in a short bullpen with this? Well, for some reason I did, and it was a good choice!
Rice breaks down into fermentable sugars that can be used to brew beer. Big breweries use rice as an adjunct because of a clean flavor, and it’s cheap and cuts down on the amount of barley needed. Using wild rice, however, is another story altogether. Capital Brewery gets its wild rice from northern Minnesota. Wild rice is technically a grass, and brewing with it causes a pretty sticky mess. Although lightly hopped, the brewers wanted to get most of the flavor of the beer from the wild rice itself, so there is a touch of balance from the hops, but mostly the flavor is a little sweeter and very clean.
I didn’t get much aroma out of my plastic hotel glass, and I think it poured like a pilsner, with a gold color and white head. The aroma was hard for me to pick up, but my nose was working even worse than normal. I found the flavor to be sweet and a little nutty, maybe, but with a nice finish and no cloying sugars giving me goobers in the back of my throat!
I think a little balance came from the hops, and there was a tough of bitterness in the finish, but really it was an extremely easy beer to drink at 5.4% ABV and I remember thinking that this beer would be the perfect “lawnmower beer.” It was incredibly refreshing, clean, smooth and just a joy to drink. I could have used a few more that night!
Beer & Cheese, Part Two
24 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
After hitting Lukas (like I need any more beer in my house) and Whole Foods yesterday, I ended up with some decent things to eat and drink. We’ll see how they go down. First off, Shatto was there doing a cheese tasting. I’d had their cheddar cheese curds before, and they’re good, but nothing special other than being yummy. Matt (?) Shatto was at the store giving samples of 6 or 7 of their new cheeses and they were all fantastic. I LOVED the Havarti, which we bought two of, as well as one of the goudas, but the choices were tough. Actually, the Havarti was out of this world and the others were “just” great! A little pricy, but that’s life.
I was in a smoked mood for some reason, so I got a block of smoked gouda and one of smoked black pepper white cheddar, too. My GF picked up a few others.
We also picked up a cheap brie to melt in the oven, some stuff like dried sour cherries and candied pecans, etc. All good pairs for cheese, wine and beer, in my opinion.
For beers, I got a single Old Rasputin for a pittance that will go great with chocolate dessert and I think will pair awesome with the sour cherries, as well as any really hard aged cheese that may be around. I’m going to take an Avery IPA, which is a little more English style, a German Marzen (think Oktoberfest) rauchbier (smoked, which could be overkill or could be AWESOME with the smoked cheeses, we’ll find out in a little while) and I’ll take a couple cans of Moose Drool, as browns and food of almost any type, especially cheese, are usually a match made in heaven. Nothing like freaking people out at a WINE party with some CANNED BEER, too! lol
2nd Annual Wine (Beer) & Cheese Party
23 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in beer, wine Tags: beer, cheese, wine
Try as I might, getting friends to understand that beer pairs well with food has been tough. I may need to bite the bullet and have an actual beer/food party someday (I loathe the idea of hosting a party at my house), but in the meantime, we have an annual “wine & cheese” party and I always make it a beer & cheese party for myself.
It’s the classic dilemma… marketing has programmed us to think that when “adults” have a party that wine is THE drink, especially if it’s with food, yet the foods being enjoyed (cheese, chocolate, desserts) all pair much better with beer, on average, than wine! But, programmed we are, so while I see the Matrix and know how to break free, my friends will still be trying to pair things that really just don’t go all that well together! Sheesh!
Since good cheese is on the pricy side and I am a seasoned beer buyer, I generally head to Whole Foods first to buy my cheese, then select some beers. It’s so easy with beer it’s almost ridiculous! lol If I can find a nice gouda, which WF often has, I will try to find a good rye or brown. I did Goose Island Nut Brown ale last year and it went great with dang near everything, so hopefully I can try a rye that isn’t Hop Rod Rye (more of an IPA).
The sliceable hard cheeses like cheddar will go with practically anything, so I could take a few bottles and see what strikes me… IPA, any Belgians, doppelbocks and pilsners all pair well with these cheeses.
I’m generally not into smoked beers all that much, but I might try a traditional rauchbier with a gouda, too. I wonder if smoked beer with smoked cheese would be overkill? Probably.
After I’ve done my pairings and enjoyed them, I’ll give a full review of the event and the beers and the cheeses. I really wish I had been able to bring a bottle or two of the New Glarus Tart Raspberry home with me from Wisconsin, though, as that beer would KILL with chocolate!
Central Waters Brewing Company Octoberfest
23 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in beer Tags: Central Waters, oktoberfest, wisconsin
As it was the end of September when I made my trip to Wisconsin, I thought picking up a couple seasonals would be a good idea, especially an Oktoberfest or two. I chose the Central Waters Brewing Company Octoberfest out of a bunch of their beers that were available at Riley’s World of Wines, but I was unfortunately disappointed by my choice. According to what I read on BeerAdvocate, Central Waters makes some good beers, but this didn’t seem to be one of them, for me.
The Oktoberfest style is a German amber lager that was traditionally brewed in the spring, then cellared or caved during the summer and enjoyed at harvest festivals in the autumn, hence their name. There is a wide variation of Oktoberfest beers, ranging from the golden, pilsner or Helles-like beers to the more amber, fuller flavored export style. American breweries tend to use the Oktoberfest as a fall seasonal beer, and true to tradition, usually brew them bigger and stronger as they would be used as a “fest” beer (think oompa-loompa polka bands, hot German chicks in dresses with low collars and giant steins of fest beer!).
Oktoberfest beers as a whole tend to be rich and malty, but finish a little dry rather than sweet. They are lagers, so they should be clean and without much caramel or hops, but maybe a light toasty flavor.
I was drinking the Central Waters beer out of a plastic hotel cup, so I wasn’t able to enjoy the appearance of the beer. The aroma was relatively clean with plenty of biscuity, malty notes. I was quite disappointed, however, in both the watery mouthfeel of the beer as well as the strange flavor. It was unlike any Oktoberfest I’ve ever had, but not in a good way. There was some sulfur, and maybe some DMS vegetal type of flavors, maybe even some hops, but none of the richness one would expect from this style. I was highly disappointed in the Central Waters Oktoberfest, and wouldn’t luck have it that with a huge cooler full of great beers I picked a loser! On a happy note, though, the beer wasn’t pour-down-the-drain bad by any stretch (although I wouldn’t have looked forward to a second), and out of 13 beers that I drank from Wisconsin, this was the only one that was marginal, with the rest being exceptional. So, that’s not a bad track record in anyone’s book!
Autumnal Fire
19 Oct 2009 1 Comment
in beer Tags: capital brewery, doppelbock, wisconsin
Before heading to Wisconsin a few weeks ago, I got a good recommendation from the forum folks at BeerAdvocate about some of the Madison-area beers, and several people told me I just had to pick up some Capital Brewery Autumnal Fire, a legendary mid-Wisconsin seasonal. I scored a bottle at Riley’s World of Wines in Madison, WI, and it was definitely worth it!
Autumnal Fire is a doppelbock, which is a style that just hasn’t grown on me, largely because the over-the-top malt profile seems too sweet to my palate, I think. This beer becomes available in September in the brewery’s distribution area, so my bottle was nice and fresh on the first day of October.
I can definitely say this is the best doppelbock I’ve ever had. It was sweet, malty, bready, but there was a little hops somewhere in that flavor, too, to balance it all out and either the hops, the alcohol, or both, dried out the flavor enough that I didn’t feel like I was sipping straight wort!
I can’t say much about the way it looked as I was drinking it in a hotel plastic cup, but the aroma was bready and malty and the mouthfeel was really rich and nice.
This was a real winner and great recommendation from the friendly Wisconsin folks on BeerAdvocate! I hope I get to go around the same time again next year and get some more of this!
KC Beerfest Tomorrow!
16 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in beer Tags: kc beerfest
Remember, KC Beerfest is TOMORROW, Saturday Oct. 17 @ the Legends. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!
Sprecher Black Bavarian Lager
14 Oct 2009 3 Comments
in beer Tags: black beer, schwarzbier, sprecher, wisconsin
Sprecher was one of the first really good breweries I was exposed to when I was just a pup. A friend was from Wisconsin and he’d occasionally bring some beers, and root beer, back to try. When I lived up in Michigan, too, it wasn’t uncommon for restaurants to carry Sprecher root beer on tap! Yummy stuff, but the subject of today’s review is clearly NOT root beer!
Sprecher’s Black Bavarian is a black lager in the “Kulmbacher” style, which I couldn’t find much about, but the beer is a German-style “schwarzbier” or black beer. Sprecher specializes in German style beers.
According to the website, Black Bavarian weighs in at 5.86% ABV, 32 IBU’s and is made from five different malts and four different hops. I bought mine in Wisconsin at Riley’s World of Wines in Madison in a 16 oz. bottle.
The beer poured black, like a porter or stout. I was drinking out of a little plastic hotel cup, so I couldn’t see much in the way of highlights or anything! Nothing says “classy” like plastic hotel cups! The head was fluffy and tan.
Aroma was roasty and smoky, even though this is not a smoked beer. My nose, as you know, is not so great, but the main thing I was getting off this beer was smoke, and lots of it.
The flavor was the same, with lots of smoke and roast, a little coffee, but to me this tasted like a smoked beer and I thought it was great! It had a really nice body and seemed to have relatively low carbonation, so it went down nice and smooth with each sip. I really liked that this was a black beer, which I tend to like anyway, that breaks out of the stout/porter mold. I generally dislike the heavy smoked flavor of a lot of smoked beers, so the natural smokiness this had from the dark roasted malts was perfect for me. With a creamy, smooth texture, this beer was way too easy to drink!
All I could think of is how well this would pair with some good ol’ Kansas City barbecue, and I think it would be an incredible pairing with anything hickory smoked, as well as some smoked cheeses, although it might need more carbonation for the cheese.
Regardless, this was a really good beer and I wished I had bought more than just one of Sprecher’s offerings while I was up there!
KC Beerfest Update – All the Beers
14 Oct 2009 4 Comments
in beer Tags: kc beerfest
Thanks to KC Beerfest’s comments, I realized they have their event map that lists all the beers and where they can be found!
Here is the link to the KC Beerfest map and beer list.
I spotted one correction… Lakefront’s “New Christ” is probably their gluten-free “New Grist” beer. At least, let’s hope so! lol
Some of the highlights, in my opinion:
- Lagunitas Hop Stoopid
- All the selections from Left Hand (Milk Stout = yum!)
- Mikkeller Stateside (excited to try this if I get a chance to take a break while I work)
- Nøgne ø #100 – Barleywine from Norway, I believe
- Three Philosophers from Ommegang is always YUM
- Pauwel Kwak (never had it)
- Sam Adams imperial doppelbock and imperial stout
- Flemish Ale
- Schlafly’s Pumpkin was delish last year
- And everything else! lol
