A Halloween Treat: the Pumpkin Ale

A few months ago, my dad and I were talking about the Reinheitsgebot.  If you don’t speak German, then you wouldn’t know the translation means ‘purity order’.  Out of context, ‘purity order’ can mean many things, but in this case the Bavarians were talking about beer.  In 1516, the Bavarian people drafted a law to say that only 3 ingredients could be used when brewing beer: water, barley, and hops.  It was created to protect against brewers cutting their beers with poor quality adjuncts or harmful flavor additives.  It’s a law that shaped the way the Germans have brewed for centuries; ensuring quality at the expense of some creativity.

I don’t remember what exactly we were talking about, but I do remember he was in defense of the Reinheitsgebot, and I was taking against the opposite stance.  He didn’t feel that you needed anything other than water, barley, and hops to make good beer (other than yeast of course).  While you obviously don’t need anything but those ingredients, I feel that you can make great beer with other ingredients too.  A great chef could make fantastic food out of just 3 ingredients, but why would they ever limit themselves to it?

I'm not impressed

Since today is Halloween, and the pumpkin culinary season is in full swing, I figured it would be a perfect day to comment on one of the most Reinheitsgebot defying beers: the pumpkin ale. Some people claim the pumpkin ale to be a gimmick, and it might be to some extent, but one thing it definitely is not is a modern day invention.  Brewing beer with pumpkin has been done since American colonial times.  While I can’t comment about the colonial beers, today’s selection is outstanding.  

In the last few weeks, I’ve done my best to try as many pumpkin beers as possible.  Some have been great, some have been not so great.  These aren’t going to be the most informative reviews I’ve done, just quick summaries; I’m also not going to grade them.  The beers are listed in the order I tried them:

Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale (7% abv) – Reminiscent of a light brown ale.  Pumpkin bread and sweet malt smells. Caramel malt, butter, molasses, and a hint of spice flavors. Very drinkable.  Coming from Dogfish Head, I expected to be really impressed with this brew, was a little underwhelmed.

Harpoon UFO Pumpkin (5.9% abv) – Hazy golden brown with an orange tinted head. Pumpkin, clove, and yeast smells.  Pumpkin, nutmeg, more yeast and possibly banana flavors.  A good looking brew drinks well on the warmer of the October days.  I think I’ve come to love unfiltered beers.

Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale (5.7% abv) – Light brown, thin looking, light carbonation. Soft wheat and nearly undetectable pumpkin rind smells.  Not much flavor besides the malt, hints of allspice and clove flavors.  Watered down.  Possibly a good gateway beer into other pumpkin beers but seemed so taste censored.  Served ice cold it’s extremely bland, if you want to enjoy it you need to let it warm, but I don’t see many American bars serving anything above 40 degrees.

Saint Arnold Pumpkinator Imperial Pumpkin Stout (10% abv) – Thick bodied, such a dark brown it looked black. Pumpkin, nutmeg, and chocolate malt smells.  Strong pumpkin pie taste: mashed pumpkin pie filling, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  Luscious roasted malt, also a bit of a creamy eggnog taste. Heavy carbonation.  As it warms alcohol and spice note become even stronger.  A delicious beer, wouldn’t recommend to a casual beer drinker though, it may dominate their palate.

Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale (5% abv) – Light brown, or dark amber. Slight pumpkin, clove, and coriander smells.  Not much pumpkin in the taste.  Caramel malt, coriander, and bittering hops flavors.  In comparison to the other beers, it seemed the most common. It makes for a very good choice to bring to a Halloween party: not too expensive, not too wacky, and easily sessionable.

These are the pumpkin ales I’ve had to date.  Sorry the list isn’t longer, but specialty beers can be hard to find in College Station, and my budget prevents me from buying too many at one time.  In the spirit of trick or treating, I think I'll award my self with a treat: the last of the pumpkin ales in my fridge. Honestly, I really just need to make room in my fridge because Christmas is coming soon...

And with it comes Christmas ales!

Setting the standard: Live Oak Brewing Co.'s Hefeweizen

When you’re first discovering the wide world of craft beer, you find a lot of new favorites.  That’s not surprising though, considering there are over 1,700 breweries in the United States alone.  It took some time, and a lot of effort from dedicated beer advocates, but the U.S. finally reached the number of breweries seen before prohibition, which is outstanding.  With this many breweries, especially considering most breweries strive to make the best beer possible, the chances of finding good beer is very high.  Every now and then though, a brewery creates something that is stand-out amazing.  If you go to beer rating websites like Rate Beer or Beer Advocate, these are the top picks.  These are the beers people will wait 5 hours in line for, or pay a seller on eBay $100+ for one bottle.  These are consistently hyped to be the best beers in the world.

A bomber of this has a 'Buy It Now' price of $89.99

One neat tool on Beer Advocate is the region filter on the Top 100 list.  Not long ago I went to the list for the Southwest region (the area containing Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas).  Being that Austin is the odd, liberal, creative town that it is, a lot of the beers on the list came from Austin area craft breweries.  This was great news for me; College Station is only 2 hours away.  Still though, I don’t have the time or money to just drive over whenever I feel like it; it would be better for the beers to come to me! These small breweries can’t afford to produce mass volume, or then distribute too far from home.

A few weeks ago, O’bannon’s announced they would be getting a few kegs from Live Oak Brewing Co.  If you’ve seen the list I referenced earlier then you might realize, Live Oak Hefeweizen is rated the #1 beer in the Southwest region.  If you filter the Top 100 list by style then you see Live Oak Hefeweizen is rated #2, in the world.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic to hear this announcement.

This is my excited face 

The official release was scheduled for 8’o’clock; I was there just shortly after.  My buddy behind the bar, Hoffman, asked what I’d be having.  Without missing a beat I said, “I’m here for the Live Oak man.” I felt a little goofy saying it like that, but I was just so excited that I wasn’t really thinking.  He brought it over and told me that it was the best hefe he’d ever had.  Before walking over to my table, I took a quick sip, and from that point I couldn’t stop smiling.

My pint of Live Oak Hefeweizen was a very hazy straw color with just a thin half finger of head.  Lots of bubble columns, definitely a lively beer.  It smelled wonderful, lots of banana peel smell mingling with lemon and a bit of that classic wheat bubblegum.  The taste mirrored the smell, with different emphasis.  The lemon zest was much stronger, the banana taste came second.  A very subtle white pepper flavor developed on the back end and joined a soft yeast aftertaste.  What really tied this beer together was the active carbonation.  It was very fizzy and it let the flavors tingle your mouth like pop rocks candy.  This beer finished crisp and was super drinkable.

There is no doubt about it, Live Oak Brewing Co.’s Hefeweizen deserves 5 out of 5.  I have never had a better hefe, and quite possibly a better beer in general.  If you ever get the chance to come to Texas and try this brew, don’t pass on it.  My buddy Todd was (unfortunately for him) unable to come to the release party and my praise of the beer made him a little jealous.  I told him “now that I’ve had it once, I’ll want it again, and I’d love to visit the brewery.”  Suddenly, a 2 hour drive doesn’t seem that long…

ROAD TRIP!

An organic review: Jester King Brewing Co.'s Wytchmaker Rye IPA

You may recall an earlier post of mine describing a recent trip to Austin.  On this trip I purchased a bottle of JesterKing Brewing Co.’s Wytchmaker Rye IPA.  As excited as I was to try something from these guys, it took me a long time to get around to reviewing it.  In fact, there were a couple of times where I just picked up my bottle and stared at it, but didn’t feel ready to open it up.  My timing was off or something.  My first time going over the bottle, I noticed something interesting.

Wytchmaker is made with 80% organic ingredients and is brewed with harvested rainwater.  They do this as a commitment to sustainability and the slow food movement.  Personally, I’m skeptical about organic foods.  A lot of companies are piggybacking off the recent wave of organic success, and labeling ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ has become a very profitable marketing tool.  As seen in Anat Baron’s movie, Beer Wars, giants like InBev are creating new products labeled as organic to capture a new niche.  I hardly believe these companies are worried about sustainability, they’re just exploiting a new modern idea.

Big fat phonies

Jester King, however, is different.  They are making a personal choice to brew with organic ingredients.  As a small brewery input costs must be staggering, because you can’t afford volume discounts that other macrobreweries enjoy, but Jester King is still making the conscious decision to pay higher prices for what they feel will let them make a higher quality brew.  Like I said earlier, I’m not really jumping on the organic bandwagon, but I still respect Jester King and others like them, for not cutting corners and brewing however they want to brew.

Even the brewery looks organic

Bewytching

My bottle of Wytchmaker poured a powerful 4 finger white head, which I wasn’t expecting at all.  The beer was mildly hazy, with a rusty copper color.  This beer had an extremely interesting bouquet.  The predominant smell of piney hops was also met with thyme, clove, a floral perfume-like smell, and a tiny bit of yeast smell to finish.  This beer had some similar flavors, but it was a tad more balanced than the aroma.  The strongest flavors are that of dry rye bread paired with a strong hop presence.  The hops added a lot of piney qualities, as well as some juniper flavor similar to gin, and a small amount of citrus fruit.  The fungal yeast taste strengthened as I neared the bottom of the bottle because I was getting more yeast sediment per pour.  If you don’t want yeast in your beer, be very gentle when serving this brew.  

I’d rate Jester King Brewing Co.’s Wytchmaker Rye IPA 4.5 out of 5.  This beer was very complex, very tasty.  I’d say this is one of the best IPAs I’ve ever had, one of the more balanced also.  One aspect of the brew I could have done away with was the juniper flavor, that’s one flavor I have never enjoyed.  That’s also why I never choose to drink gin.  Maybe it’s just because I hate looking at Ashe Juniper trees.  Those resinous junk scrubs have littered the Texas plains and they’re too dangerous for us to let burn down.  I say they’re nasty and we could stand to lose a few.

Can't play football in this backyard...

Brewery Ommegang's Three Philosophers Quadrupel

A few months ago, I bought a bottle of Three Philosophers from Brewery Ommegang in New York.  I don’t have any special story for this one; I just saw it and picked it up.  I had no idea what to expect, I based the purchase on recommendation from a few different people.  Even though many people have enjoyed this brew, only a few of people attempted to describe it, I got a lot of different answers.  Even today, I’m not sure how to classify this brew; it really IS one of a kind.

No Tyler Durden, you're wrong this time

Three Philosophers is 98% Belgian-style quadrupel Abbey ale blended with 2% kriek lambic.  Did you catch all that? If you’re a normal person, that sentence meant absolutely nothing to you.  I think I need to break this brew down into its components, take it piece by piece. Let’s start with ‘Belgian-style quadrupel’:

Quadrupel, or Quad, is a strong style of ale originating from ancient Trappist ales.  The Trappists were a certain branch of Cistercian monks in La Trappe, France that formed their own strict order of Catholicism.  One of the guiding rules of the order was the need to have self-sufficient monasteries.   This involved every facet of life, including the need for beer.  These monasteries, which slowly spread across Europe, brewed their own unique styles of ale called Trappist ales.  Many of these monasteries no longer exist; there are only 7 official Trappist breweries today, 6 of which are located in Belgium.  These Trappist breweries, such as Chimay and Orval, are some of the most celebrated brewers in the world.  Many craft breweries attempt to recreate these Trappist styles, however they cannot label themselves as licensed Trappist beer.So that’s part of this brew, what about that other 2%? Well, what really makes Three Philosophers unique is the addition of a beer called lambic.

 

Lambics are fruit beers.  In the brewing process, during fermentation of the wort, whole fruits are added to the mix.  This not only adds a lot of new flavors, this also adds a new sugar source for the yeast to metabolize.  There are several types of lambic; kriek lambic is made by adding cherries.

 

Just saying Three Philosophers is 98 parts strong ale and 2 parts cherry beer doesn’t really do justice to the history and creativity contained in this brew.  Even the bottle it comes in is worthy of admiration.

Unedited photo, believe it or not

One night last week, I just made the decision to pop open the bottle.  The brew poured a velvety dark red color, the word luscious came to mind.  The head was 3 fingers strong with a slight reddish tint. 

This was a very aromatic beer.  I picked up on strong notes of cherry, red licorice, raisins, and roasted grain.  There was also a bit of a sour, spoiled fruit smell.

This was also a very flavorful beer. The three predominant flavors in the beer were sour cherries, irish cream, and smooth barley malt.  A few other flavors that made quick appearances were dark fruits (like raisin and plum) and a medicinal cough syrup taste. The 9.8% abv was very apparent in this beer.  It had the alcohol warmth equal to that of  a dry red wine.

After a lot of consideration, I decided to rate Brewery Ommegang’s Three Philosophers 4 out of 5.  This beer deserves to be slowly sipped from a wine glass, or tulip, and paired with a fine cigar. Its main appeal is drawn from its richness of flavor, and smooth textures.  However, I felt the alcohol was a tad harsh and cherry isn’t always a flavor I enjoy (that's my personal preference).  Even though this beer wasn’t really for me, I can still appreciate it, and I applaud Ommegang for brewing with honest passion. 

Not to mention a sense of humor

Cask Party! Real Ale Brewing Co.'s Rio Blanco Pale Ale

If you’re a College Station resident and wish to become a serious beer drinker, there are 2 places you’ll come to rely on.  The first, of course, is Spec’s Liquor; it’s the best place to find beer in CStat.  H-E-B, for being a supermarket, has a great selection as well.  However once you get into buying the seasonal releases and rarities, H-E-B doesn’t compete with the wide selection that Spec’s has.  In fact, I talk about Spec’s so much I’m starting to think they should be paying me for advertising. Pay me in beer, perhaps?

Nobody ever pays me in beer...

The second place in CStat for the dedicated brew fanatic is O’Bannon’s Irish Pub (which I also mention quite a lot.)  One of the best things about this pub is they don’t try to appeal to the typical American college student market.  Instead of having the nightly specials on domestics (also known as Big 3 swill), they have specials based on new and interesting releases or seasonal brews.  One of the most obvious indicators of O’Bannon’s dedication to beer artistry is their occasional cask parties.  Not many breweries sell small cask conditioned batches of their brews, they’re more difficult to transport and can be a lot of work on the server’s side.  A few breweries in Texas though, do produce some casks and O’Bannon’s is usually lucky enough to get their hands on one.  It’s always an interesting experience drinking a naturally carbonated living beer.  It’s even better when you can taste the same beer pressurized in a keg or bottled up, and get the chance to compare the differing flavors.

Pictured: a creative alternative to the keg

Last Wednesday’s cask party was sponsored by Real Ale Brewing Co. in Blanco, TX.  This craft brewery, most famous for producing Fireman’s 4, is located in the heart of the central Texas. These guys are so dedicated to the brewing tradition of creating ‘real ale’ that they named their company after it.  The team is currently running a 60 barrel system and with it can produce anywhere between 54,000 and 72,000 barrels each year.  A barrel is equal to 31 gallons, according to Title 1: Chapter 1 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code.  All of that volume is matched by a 16 head bottle filler running a daily average of 1200 cases per day.  As you can tell, this little brewery is working hard.

I now own a similar glass

The cask Real Ale brought last Wednesday was one of their original 3 brews: Rio Blanco Pale Ale, a Texas take on English pale ale.  Since the 2011 Great American Beer Fest just happened, I think it’s noteworthy to add that this brew won a gold medal in 2010.  Along with the cask, those awesome folks brought over 100 branded tumbler glasses; buy the beer, keep the glass.  At $5 total, getting to keep the $3 glass, I don’t see how anyone could pass up the deal.

My pint of Rio Blanco was gravity pulled through an agitator to sort of kick up the carbonation.  The result was a finger of thick, creamy white head.  Strong retention with this brew, but I’ll admit I did drink it fast.  The color of the brew was a cloudy burnt orange color, the haze was most likely attributed to the yeast still contained in the cask. The smell and taste were identical in this brew, starting out very strong with zesty Saaz hops, heavy herbal note and some bittering oils.     There was a soft malt backbone that basically acted as a medium for the hops to shine through.  The beer felt oily at first but it does finish clean.

I’d rate Real Ale Brewing Co.’s cask conditioned Rio Blanco Pale Ale 3.5 out of 5.  There wasn’t anything spectacular about this beer. Saaz hops dominated this brew; as tasty as Saaz hops are, they’re really only a piece of the puzzle.  This beer would make for a good casual brew, one I’d surely drink again, but not one I’d rave about.  You should know though, what I'm really looking forward to trying are the Mysterium Verum series, they're so... mysterious.