Beer Blotter

 

I love Deschutes. There is no debating their consistent grasp on NW beer consumers’ hearts. There is no debating my love for all they do, from their incredibly adventurous beer, to their NW-esque graphics, to their amazing pubs in PDX and Bend. Well now they are making short films to promote their beer – and its kicking up the beer nerd chatter.

 

Alan McLeod is an excellent beer blogger. If you don’t already follow his “A Good Beer Blog” – do it. His blog is a worthwhile read, written by someone who is not afraid to speak his mind. While I disagree with him, a lot of the time, I still appreciate his willingness to not pander to brewers and outwardly like everything, as most beer bloggers do. We try our best, but unfortunately Timperial’s iron-clad pallet finds something to like in almost everything. Damn you, Tim.

 

So today, Alan posted some comments on a new short film/commercial that Deschutes decided to launch about, um, well, I guess their beer? From the objective point of view, you might think it’s a love story, a road trip adventure or a think-piece of self-exploration.  What we know is that they gratuitously toss in some sideboob around the mid-point, so beware those of you watching at work.

 

Alan seems disappointed in this rugged NW brewery – one that he very much enjoys. His comments find the video over the top, “creepy” and even “uncomfortable.” What ensues is a long back and forth between Alan and a number of other beer bloggers from around the country, trying to decide if this was a good idea.

 

I get it. It’s weird and a bit too emotional to try and capture a love story to promote a NW beer.  But I like it. I also think it’s a good decision for Deschutes.

 

Why not be unconventional and why not show something passionate about your beer? I too believe that beer is more powerful than a mere intoxicant. It brings people together and it creates careers and life passions. If the thing represents more than a buzz, why not celebrate that through a representative video? I think that Deschutes shot from the hip, and hit a winner. But this is only a minor part of what I like.

 

The coolest part of this video is the story behind the beer. The great minds at Deschutes don’t name their beer something clever, they celebrate the great, almost surreal, world around Bend, Oregon. Black Butte, Green Lakes, Mirror Pond, the twilight at Smith Rock, the inversion at South Sisters and the obsidian stone found at Newberry Crater. Having recently visited Bend, I can vouch for its uncanny incomparable character. The world around this small town is otherwordly, and certainly invoking of an existential experience.

 

I’m not the most touchy-feely guy out there, but I appreciate the Deschutes naming trend. In a beer world where Arrogant Bastard, Hopslam, Dark Lord, Pliny the Elder and a bunch of other creative and clever names do the marketing, Deschutes finds its inspiration organically. And its hard to promote that. Faced with being captured by a beer named after a small pond in downtown Bend or the czar of the underworld, you probably steer clear of subtlety. But Deschutes has not wavered, and in fact it put some considerable time and effort into creating a video that shows you the inspiring world that crafted their message. I dig that. I bet you do as well.

 

So, take a gander and let me know. I’m all ears about this approach. Who knows, it could be some good research for the Blotter’s future brewing operation (its happening).

 

Video is below. NOTE: if you don’t see it right away, wait a few minutes. If you wait and nothing – click link below it.

 

Deschutes Landmarks from NORTH on Vimeo.

We all know what great beer American craft brewers are cranking out. Yet, passion for beer and the quality of the product did not originate in this young country. I want to begin to feature breweries from Europe on beerblotter.com with a focus on history, the brews (of course) and the availability here in the U.S.

My favorite Belgium brewery is always a topic of conversation since there are so many amazing options. However, due to some recent “research” and favorite past times, I have made my pick and I am sticking with it. De Dolle out of Esen, Belgium produces a line up of extraordinary beers and will be the first brewery from “across the pond” that I will feature here.

Brewery: De Dolle Brouwers

City and Country of Origin: Esen, Belgium

Year of Inception: Way back when- we are talking late 1800′s.

Facts:  Straight from the source–

The founder of the brewery was a doctor in medecine, Louis Nevejan. We have recently found papers in the archives stating that the first building dates from 1835 AD. Once it was both brewery and distillery. The founder died in 1882 and the brewery was sold to Alouis Costenoble. The family brewed for three generations until 1980 when the brewery stopped. Beer brands include COQ PILS OUD BRUIN & COSMOS. In Esen there were six breweries (all small and parttime) and two distilleries. The actual brewer is doing historical research on West-Flanders breweries since 1900 AD, and has got the ‘GOLDEN HAMMER’ Trophy, a two yearly award for historic research on breweries.

Beers: De Dolle has been in operation for well over 100 years, yet several of their beers are akin to more contemporary styles and those not very common in Belgium (see Bos Keun for its distinct hoppiness and Stout for the style’s rarity in Belgium). I have had some very memorable moments with De Dolle beers (see 1998 Stille Nacht: Trip to Belgium; Boskeun on draft: First Date Night with Husband After Baby) and continue to be amazed by their quality, flavor and technique (see Special Reserva Oerbeir: November 19, 2011 at The Dray).

Oerbier:  On De Dolle’s main rotation

Oerbier means original, from the source. This beer has been brewed in small scale (5 gallons) at home in a copper wash kettle, by two brothers who were students at the time.

Oerbier is brewed from all different malts, Poperinge Golding hops in flowers and a special yeast which makes it a little tart, especially with aging. After a couple of years Oerbier tastes like it has been blended with wine… Oerbier has been refermented in the bottle and contains a layer of yeast, having vitamins B.

Love how the website gives aging tips!

Arabier: On De Dolle’s main rotation

An arabier is a pure malt beer 8°vol/alc brewed with flower Nugget-hops from Poperinge. It has the special dry-hopping taste and aroma, so appreciated by beer lovers all over the world. It is one of the two main beers from De Dolle Brouwers throughout the year. Aging time is limited due to the fact that hop bitterness is declining with the time. Store arabier cool and dark and serve cool at 10°C.

Boskeun: A seasonal, “Easter” beer

It is a special Easter beer, one of the first real Belgian Easter beers. (Slaghmuylder’s paasbier being first). It has been brewed with pale malt, Golding hops, cane sugar and refermented in the bottle. It’s a seasonal beer, so we suggest not to keep it eternally. The name Boskeun means “rabbit of the wood”.

Dulle teve:

Dulle Teve means Mad Bitch, but the US government does not like the name, so we said TRIPEL. Is is an all malt brew with white candy in the kettle and refermented. Alc 10 %. Is not meant for aging.

Stille Nacht: A seasonal, Christmas beer

Stille Nacht (Silent Night) is a prestige beer from De Dolle Brouwers, brewed for Christmas. It has the highest density of any Belgian beer (27°Pl). It has been boiling for many hours, brewed with pale malt with white candy sugar in the kettle. The Nugget hops gives an extra bitterness to balance the extreme sweetness due to the density. The taste triangle is completed with some acidity of the fermentation.

It is a very interesting beer to age.

One of the best beers I have ever had and the most memorable on my trip to Belgium was that 1998 Stille Nacht bottle at The Kulminator (known for its vintage bottle selection) in Antwerp, Belgium. I skipped going to Saint Sixtus that day and that very specific bottle of beer made it well worth it.

De Dolle has kept samples of every single year and can with confidence say that Stille Nacht only gets better with age. I too can attest to that. Moral of this story? If you can get your hands on a older bottle of Stille Nacht, buy it- it is a beer treasure.

Stout: A seasonal beer

Stout is an old-fashioned beer, but still popular in English speaking countries. Upon request by the American importer, we brew Stout a couple of times a year, with roasted malt, caramel malt and pale malt, Nugget hops and the same fermentation as Oerbier. The combination of all that is a bitter, tart beer, with character. It could have been drunk in England or Ireland some 200 years ago.

Availability: Widely distributed in the US. Of course, the seasonal brews might be less abundant.

Well, I made it all the way through. There were a few days of struggle, a few pushes. In the end, I had the gumption to get it done. 30 days and many beers – but each night a Christmas ale – are complete.

There were highs thanks to De Dolle and Hair of the Dog – and there were lows due in part to Ninkasi and Bridgeport. But all in all, I loved each evening. The beer did as I had hoped: restored Christmas to its rightful jolly state.

Throughout the process, I posted a blurb about each beer on our Facebook page. After 30 days, I made my choices. Here are the results:

 

Top 5 Beers – Overall Quality:

 

1. De Dolle Stille Nacht 2009

 

2. Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws 2009

 

3. Troegs Mad Elf

 

4. Nogne O/Jolly Pumpkin/Stone Special Holiday Ale 2009

 

5. Great Lakes Christmas Ale

 

Honorable Mentions: Brasserie Thiriez, Goose Island 2009 Xmas Ale, Fremont B-Bomb, and Silver City Old Scrooge

 

Top 5 Beers – Christmas Style:

 

1a. Nogne O/Jolly Pumpkin/Stone Special Holiday Ale 2009

 

1b. Great Lakes Christmas Ale

 

3. Anchor Christmas Ale 2010

 

4. Maritime Jolly Roger

 

5. Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas

 

Honorable Mentions: Eggenberg Samichlaus, Silver City Old Scrooge, De Dole Stille Nacht, and Breckenridge Christmas Ale

 

Top Beer Description:

 

Most of the time when I wrote these reviews, I was half intoxicated at a bar typing on my phone. The quality of the review depended on my motivation level and surrounding conversations. Some beers were cheated, others were given too much (See De Dolle Stille Nacht for “too little” and Fremont Abominable for “too much”)

My favorite description came from drinking an Anchor Christmas Ale at Collins Pub in Seattle:

 

The Xmas ale is their staple, a seasonal release of many years. This year it tastes like some took a glass of milk, nuked it, dropped in 5 gingerbread houses and a black tea bag and put it in a laundry machine for 6 hours. After that, I drank it. It’s delicious, a fine example of Christmas flavors.

 

Top Memory of 30 Days of Christmas Ale

 

One night, Timperial came and surprised me with a party pig (finally, my own tap) and a bottle of Brasserie Thiriez Noel. We got sentimental:

 

I have a pretty good story about this brewer. Timperial and I drove out to West Flanders one morning to visit Saint Sixtus Abbey and drink the Westvleteren 12. After we got biblical, we decided to peruse the towns. We visited St Bernardus, shot the shit with local Woesteners, and proceeded to make the journey across enemy lines (kind of a joke) to France.

Escalbecq is literally 10 kilos across le border. The border is an unrecognizable line where my Tom Tom starts speaking french. We pulled up to a shanty of a farmhouse and went searching for Daniel (owner of Brasserie Thiriez). We bumped into a brute of a man (seinfeld Kramer reference) who had on denim suspenders and a weird rat tail haircut. I engaged him in conversation. He stared blankly and retorted: “oui?….” imagine the most confused vocal tone on earth, in French. That was this guy.

After nearly 10 minutes of charades, awkward hand signals and phony sign language – he finally understood “Daniel” and illistrated that he was sleeping. This guy? Le brassuer.

He also finally grasped my guzzling booze depiction. He led us to the farmhouse and we – extremely awkward – downed a few samples an bought a few bottles. On the way back to Belgium (10 kilos), we road soda’d a blonde and laughed hysterically at the hijinks. Tonight, we formed a consensus that a return was a necessity.

Thiriez makes amazing beer. They have one of the best yeast strains I have ever tasted. Grassy, earthly, active – but clean – it’s always a different experience under each cap. The Noel is phenomenal. It has a clean, yet significant scent. It packs a mouthful of cherries, strawberries, vanilla, and hay. There is no denying the French farmhouse styling – and we love it. A lively beer with a fresh scent yum.

 

All in all, it’s the best Thiriez brew we’ve had. Kudos to Bottleworks for pulling this guy in. If it’s on the shelf – it’s a must buy.

It was a good ride. Look for a repeat, with all new beer, next year.

 

This one is brought to us by Amateur Hour, our good friend Erik Baldwin. Enjoy….

 

Home Brewing is a Lot Like Fishing

(And other observations of mildly compulsive pleasuredrinkers)

 

In the same way that a lazy parent bribes an annoying child with candy to stay quiet during an important phone call, the Beer Blotter Crew bribes me with promises of public exposure to keep my fingers out of the sparge during the brew process.

 

Act One: The Dedicated Amateur

 

Amateurs like to speculate. From our position, hovering like fruit flies around the rotting tomato of professionalism, we’ve learned that the best way accomplish any goal is to slightly modify expert instructions by adding our own clever shortcuts. Flying in the face of safety, logic and tradition, the dedicated amateur can turn even the simplest task into a labyrinthine convolution of do-overs and back pedaling. This is evidenced clearly in the homebrew process.

“Wow, that looks pretty lumpy” (Poke the sparge with my car key)

“That’s not sanitary. You could contaminate the entire batch”

“Shoot.”

The dedicated amateur knows the best way to deal with a contamination issue is to hope for the best.

“Nah, It’ll probably be ok, my car keys are pretty clean, as far as car keys go. I drive a BMW”.

 

Act Two: Yeah, I’ll be back in a minute

 

Anybody who’s ever brewed beer at home knows it’s a waiting game. Waiting for water to heat up, waiting to add grain, waiting for wort to cool down… Bah. The dedicated amateur recognizes these gaps in productivity as opportunities to drink beer somebody else has conveniently brewed for you.

Because of repeated and prolonged absences during the brew process, much of the amateur’s understanding of how beer is made is gleaned from questions ex post facto.

“So, did you guys add the hops yet?”

“No, we’re just sanitizing the kettle right now.”

“Oh, for sure, yeah. Let me know if you need anything, I’ll be inside for just a quick second.”

(2 hours pass)

“Boy, that malt really smells good, when are you going to add it?”

“That’s trail mix. I brought it to snack on.”

 

Act Three: Here, let me try

 

The dedicated amateur, above all else, knows better. When he sees someone struggling at a simple task, such as seating a cork firmly into a carboy, he is more than willing to do it right for them.

“Damn, this cork isn’t fitting right.”

“Here, let me try it.” (plop) “Yeah, no, it doesn’t fit. Somehow it fell right in. Is that a problem?”

“Get the hell out of here.”

“Hmmm. Yeah.”

 

The Northwest Brewing News has rolled out its annual Reader’s Choice Poll – its time to vote. The Brewing News is a national brewing publication, severed into seven regional publications. Our good friend Geoff Kaiser writes for the Northwest edition, when he’s not manning the ship at Seattle Beer News.

Every year, the Brewing News holds a poll asking its readers to select the very best in the Northwest. Categories for best brewery, brewpub, bar, beer store, home brew shop and perhaps the most heated category – best bartender – are divided state by state. You may vote on the best Northwest beer for each style, as well.

When going through this poll, we noticed that we hit a few stumbling blocks. How do you pick between Hair of the Dog & Cascade Brewing? Is Uber Tavern a better place to grab a beer than The Dray? What the heck is down in Northern California? Don’t be ashamed to have to Rate Beer yourself a group of candidates, as long as you have actually experienced the pub, brewery or beer you intend to choose. But, if you are stuck – let us recommend a few:

 

Best Imperial IPA

 

Even with heavyweights like Russian River, Hopworks, Walking Man and Midnight Sun in the mix, and with Washington rising stars Boundary Bay and Port Townsend making their own cases – there can still be only one choice for us. Black Raven’s Wisdom Seeker licked the competition at Brouwers Hopfest. We have no reservations about this choice.

 

Best Strong Ale

 

The Northwest has always somewhat lacked in the big beer categories. But, there is no doubt that one strong ale has dominated the Northwest for many year – Hair of the Dog’s Fred. Alan Sprints has been making this beer for ages. If you have a vintage bottle laying around, you know what makes this complex ale so special. Vote with confidence.

 

Best Sour Beer

 

For years, I would probably have said that Russian River had this category killed with Consecration. But after recently tasting Cascade Brewing’s Noyeaux, I have reservations. Noyeaux was recently described in a post by our very own Timperial Stout. Check this one out before you mark down one of Russian River’s excellent choices.

 

Best NorCal Brewpub

 

We pushed Russian River out of the competition above, but here they take the cake. Backed by unprecedented selection and incredible beer food – there is no better place to grab a collection of beer and a delicious meal.

 

Best Washington Brewery

 

Some would say Boundary Bay has the history and fanfare to deserve this award. Some would say that Black Raven is the young gun that should take the title. We don’t disagree, but lets consider a 3rd choice – Snipes Mountain Brewing? You might think we are crazy but the Sunnyside, Washington brewer has been turning heads. Just about everything that brewer Chris Miller has put out of late, has shocked and awed. Food for thought.

 

Best Washington Bartender

 

Wow, we have some great bartenders up here in Seattle. We have a ton of love for Rachel up at Naked City, Natasha at The Dray and certainly Amy, down at Collins Pub. These three wonderful ladies have excellent beer IQs and care about their patrons. This gives them serious consideration.

But, to find someone who can advise, entertain, and take excellent care of you, all without being a giant asshole – priceless. Chris Cavanaugh is that guy. Chris can be found at three, count them, three amazing beer spots in Seattle. Once a fixture at Brouwers Cafe, Chris had to leave to tackle cancer. Once he returned to the bar, Chris grabbed spots at Elysian Brewing (Capitol Hill), The Stumbling Monk, and time behind the bar at Brouwers Cafe. There is one reason that he is at these three places – everyone loves him! Chris will give you great attention, wonderful advice, and excellent entertainment. Not once have we ever heard one person dislike him. Vote for this man.

So take a stab at the poll and let your voice be heard! You can access the poll by following this link. Got any other suggestions for choices, please post them in the comments below.