Special Beer Sessions

As many of you may have noticed, I really try to focus on local Minnesota brews in my beer sessions. I have occasionally ventured outside of those boundaries, but I truly enjoy supporting my home state's breweries and will continue to do so.

That being said, I cannot pass up any excellent and/or unique opportunities to blog about brews that are not native to our area. A good example would be my past posts with the Blond,8, and 12 from Westvleteren.

I recently came across 2 possibilities that I think will make for some very special sessions. In fact, the products I want to sit down with both come from The Boston Beer Company:

• Latitude 48 IPA Deconstructed - This very special 12-pack gives anyone the opportunity to understand how 5 different hops affect the aroma and flavor of Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA. The box contains 2 bottles of the original IPA and 2 bottles each of 5 different single-hop IPAs. (A single-hop recipe is just that; a beer made with only 1 variety of hop.) The hops used individually in each of those brews are the same ones that combine to make the original Latitude 48: Ahtanum, East Kent Goldings, Hallertau Mittelfruh, Simcoe, and Zeus. I plan to sit down and taste all 6 IPAs in one sitting so I can break down the nuances and differences for all of you.

• Samuel Adams Utopias - Now this is a special beer. It is released every 2 years to eagerly awaiting beer geeks like me (even though it's extremely expensive). This brew is part art and part sledgehammer. The art lies in the craftful blending of many different beers conditioned in various varieties of barrels; some which have been aging 18 years. The sledgehammer? Oh, that would be the naturally fermented 27% ABV. That's right, this beer is 54 proof! I consider myself lucky to have been given the chance to purchase this one-of-a-kind libation, and I plan to share my experience with you.

Well, there you go. I've got 2 very special sessions to plan and I hope you're looking forward to them as much as I am. Up to that point and beyond, I will continue to visit our favorite local brews.

Cheers!

Coborn's Tasting - June 11th

Have you checked the weather forecast lately? It looks like we're going to have a wonderful combo of sunny skies and temperatures around 70° in the Twin Cities this weekend. In fact, these conditions may cause you to have the desire to enjoy a couple tasty brews outside. If you decide to go on a hunt for some beer on Saturday, stop by the Hastings Coborn's Liquor. From 2 - 6pm, I'll be pouring samples of 2 Alaskan and 4 Tallgrass varieties:

• Alaskan Amber
• Alaskan Summer
• Tallgrass Ale
• Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat
• Tallgrass IPA
• Tallgrass Oasis

I'll be ready to talk beer as usual, and will be more than happy to make any recommendations for your beautiful weather endeavors. Hope to see you there!

Brau Brothers Bancreagie Peated Scotch Ale

If you've been watching Brau Brothers over the last few months, you may have noticed some new things happening to their line-up. First, they recreated and replaced 2 of their year-round beers (which I believe worked out for the better on both counts). More recently, they introduced a whole new brew to their annual group; one that is a departure from any style they've produced before. I think this is great news and shows that things are going well for this growing Minnesota brewer.

In this session, I'll be sitting down with 1 of their 2 new year-round replacements: Bancreagie Peated Scotch Ale. This brew takes over for their old Scotch Ale, which was the first Brau Bros beer I had ever tasted. To create this new recipe, they used Scottish-grown Maris Otter barley malt, a controlled portion of peat-smoked malt, Golding and Willamette hops, and Edinburgh yeast. It weighs in with 7.6% ABV and 20 IBUs. Let's get to it!

I pour the 12 ounce bottle into my tulip glass and get a rapidly building off-white head that peaks at 1.5 fingers. It then quickly shrinks and breaks up into a few tiny, thin patches of foam. The color of the body is similar to dark maple syrup and has some lovely hints of ruby.

The smell of toasted biscuits and dark dried fruits dominate the aroma. There is smoke present in the nose as expected, but it's surprisingly subtle. Just a touch of alcohol scent rounds it all out.

Flavors? They're there, and are quite nice. Rich caramel and English toffee combine with a flavor similar to grilled peaches (yes, I have eaten a grilled peach before - good stuff). Then, the wonderfully balanced peat smoke comes through nicely without becoming overpowering. There is minimal bitterness at the finish, but along with the smoke it's just enough to keep things from getting too sweet.

This beer's medium viscosity is stickier than I expected, but in a good way as it coats my mouth with deliciousness. It has a mild carbonation level and doesn't leave any lacing to speak of.

Brau Brothers has a really tasty scotch ale on their hands with this one. It's rich and sweet with a perfect amount of smoke and some pleasant fruit characteristics. I thought their old Scotch Ale was a good brew, but I thing they did the right thing by switching to this new recipe. I will definitely be revisiting Bancreagie in the future, especially on cool spring and fall evenings while sitting outside.

Olvalde The Auroch's Horn

I'm always happy to hear about a new brewery opening in Minnesota. Many questions immediately come to mind when I hear news like that: Where is the brewery? Who is the head brewer? What kind of beers do they produce? Are they hiring beer geeks like me? It also makes me very excited about the future of our craft beer culture in this state. I think someday we might even compare to great beer states like Oregon and Colorado. That would be pretty cool...

We recently had some brand new local breweries pop up including Harriet, Pour Decisions, Castle Danger, and Olvalde. Not to mention the already existing brewing companies that have been contract brewing and now started the setup of their own brewing space and equipment, like Lift Bridge and Fulton. Yep, things are looking bright for Minnesota craft brewing.

Today, I'm focusing on a beer from one of those brand-spankin' new breweries: Olvalde Farm and Brewing Company. They are a small operation located on a family farm in Rollingstone, MN. Their goal is to create ales "that honor ancient brewing traditions and culture." I like the sound of that.

The first (and only, for right now) beer that Olvalde has bottled is The Auroch's Horn. This brew is based on a very old style made with barley, wheat, and honey. It is unfiltered, refermented in the bottle, and weighs in with big 10% ABV.

Why did they name the beer The Auroch's Horn? That's a fun bit of trivia. The aurochs were a species of huge wild cattle that lived in Europe, Asia, and northern Africa until they officially became extinct in 1627. Their horns were often hollowed out and used as drinkware for the ales of that time. Pretty cool, huh?

I pour from the 750 ml bottle into my oversized wine glass. Yep, I said wine glass. Don't fret, my friends, I haven't gone crazy. It's actually appropriate for this style. The fast building off-white coarse head peaks at 3 fingers high, then slowly fades to a sticky, soapy-looking film. The body is a nice orange-ish gold color.

Some pleasant aromas make their presence known. The sweet smells of honey and ripe apricot combine beautifully with herbal spice and a slight musty quality. There is also the definite scent of alcohol.

This is tasty stuff. The flavor matches the aroma almost identically. The honey starts it off and and mixes with stone fruit, black pepper, bittering herbs, booziness, and a little metallic twang as it carries all the way through to the finish.

The brew's moderate thickness and some prickly carbonation make for a wonderful mouthfeel. A nice dry, crisp finish is accompanied by a building warmth after each sip. Some pretty lacing is left on my glass as the liquid disappears.

I'm a big fan of Belgian beer styles and now I'm a big fan of Olvalde. I'm proud that this lovely creation was crafted in Minnesota. It has a wonderful combination of sweet fruit, spice, and some constructive bitterness that makes me want to drink a lot more of this brew. I can't wait to see what Olvalde Farm and Brewing Company will create next. Definitely go out to buy yourself this beer and help me support this new brewery.

Vanberg & DeWulf update

I just recently received an email from Wendy Littlefield of Vanberg & DeWulf. They have updated their website and recently returned from a successful trip to Belgium, which means they will be bringing 10 new beers into this country very soon!

For those of you who may not know, Vanberg & DeWulf is a wonderful beer importer based out of Cooperstown, New York. One of the best-known beers they bring to us is the legendary Saison Dupont.

Wendy asked me to share this information with all of you:

"Here’s our brand new website: http://www.belgianexperts.com. Please take a moment to pour yourself a “pintje” before perusing our 30th Anniversary Expanded Collector's Edition Portfolio. Stave the sorrows of an empty glass by arming yourself with our bevy of beer locating tools. Explore our cooking with beer recipes and visit our blog for breaking beer news, upcoming events and contests, featured “heroes of the good beer movement”, and Belgian travel tips.

Thirsty for more?
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We'll be happy to share content on things sour, spiced, blended, organic, monastic, hand-selected, sessionista, still or sparkling, new & noble. Please help us pass the word and let us know if you have questions about anything in the collection.

There are ten new beers coming in in the coming three months! We are just back from a three month trip to Belgium and it was very productive.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave an ale!

Best wishes, Don & Wendy"

Summit Unchained Series Batch 06 - Gold Sovereign Ale

I recently realized that I need to try very hard to keep from falling behind on my beer sessions with our local limited batch brews. I did manage to fully catch up on the Schell's Stag Series first, and then picked up the slack on the Summit Unchained Series. Now that those sessions are complete, it's time to get to the present beer in the Unchained Series: Batch 06 - Gold Sovereign Ale.

If you've been watching the Unchained Series closely, you'll have seen that each batch has been created by a different Summit brewer. Batch 06 is no different and the mastermind behind this beer is Damian McConn.

Damian is the guy in charge of Summit's casks, so you may be familiar with his work. (I personally was blown away when I first tried the dry hopped cask Horizon Red Ale.) When I participated in Great Waters' Ultimate Beer Tour, I was lucky enough to have him as a tour guide when we hit Summit. I can definitely say that was the best Summit tour I've ever had. Damian is a fun guy with a lot of beer knowledge (obviously), so I was excited when I initially heard he created this batch.

Damian based this batch on an old English ale recipe from 1857. The twist is this: he used very modern ingredients that have only been used by British brewers within the last few years. I've heard it called an East India Pale Ale; I've heard it called a Victorian Pale Ale. Whatever you want to call it, all that really matters is how it tastes. I'm ready to get this session rolling, but first...

If you compare my past photos of Summit beers to this photo for Unchained 6, do you notice anything different? Look closely at the top of the bottle. See it yet? That's right, they switched from twist-offs to the traditional pry-off caps. Summit had been hearing customers tell them how hard it was to open the twist-off caps. (I myself had shredded a little skin up from time to time so I could enjoy their beer.) This was due to the fact they put the caps on as tightly as possible to protect the precious liquid inside, which is a noble deed appreciated by craft beer lovers. The only problem was that most people had to resort to using a bottle opener to get the cap off. So, the minds at Summit figured they might as well switch to pry-off caps if an opener was already required for the twist-offs. Now, you still have to use an opener, but the beer is protected better than ever!

I pour the 12 ounce bottle into my imperial pint glass and create a 2 finger off-white head in the process. The foam gradually sinks into a coarse, uneven coating with a sticky ring around the sides of the glass. The body is slightly cloudy and golden in color.

Pleasant, light aromas fill my nostrils. Honey, bread, and what smells like fresh-cut grass blend wonderfully with the scents of peaches and apricots. There is also a definite herbal quality present in the nose. I'm starting to crave a taste...

The flavor of biscuits along with a light fruit sweetness is followed by just a bit of citrus zing. Then a slightly earthy hop spice chips away at a bit of the malt while a bitter tang starts building from midway through and lingers strongly at the finish.

The weight of this brew is surprisingly light in the mouth with some mild carbonation. It's very smooth and easy to swallow, yet keeps a nice crispness. My glass has some pretty lacing sticking as the beer level drops.

Gold Sovereign Ale is very different from most IPAs I've tried (if we've decided it's an IPA), but it a good way. It's light, fruity, easy to drink, and very refreshing with a good amount of bitterness to balance it out. This tasty brew drinks like a session beer, but I bet it's high enough in alcohol that it's probably not. The ABV is not listed anywhere that I can find. However, using my homebrew knowledge and the listed original gravity of 1.060 from Summit's website, I'd guess it's somewhere in the range of 6 - 6.5%. Go get some and enjoy it on a lovely spring evening!

Coborn's Tasting Friday, May 6th

Tomorrow, May 6th, I'll be pouring samples of six tasty beers at the Hastings Coborn's Liquor:

• Abita Turbodog
• Brau Brothers Moo Joos
• Full Sail LTD 05 - Amber Lager
• Lake Superior Mesabi Red
• Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale
• Summit Unchained Series Batch 06 - Gold Sovereign Ale

It's supposed to be a beautiful Friday, so come taste some beers you might want to purchase for a little evening drink on the deck. I'll be there from 4:30 - 8:30pm, willing to talk beer as usual while I'm sharing samples with you. See you there!