Better Know a Beer Style: Imperial IPA

Style 14C: Imperial IPA
The imperial, or double, IPA is a recent style to come forward as a reflection of American craft brewers pushing the limits of brewing for hops lovers. This category, however, can stretch and cover historical stock ales that a strong heavily-hopped beers without the malt character of a barleywine.

These beer should appear with a persistent white and be in color a golden amber to a reddish copper, possibly with an orange tint. Ideally the beer is clear, but unfiltered dry-hopped versions can bring haze.

A prominent to intense hop aroma from English and American hops is the standard. Additional dry-hopping will also add resinous and grassy aromas. Some malt sweetness is allowable in the background, along with alcohol, and fruitiness from esters or hops.

The flavor should be strong and complex, focusing on the hops. Ac lean and sweet malt background can provide balance, but these beers can be absurdly bitter with a long, lingering aftertaste. The finish should be on the dry side and sulfur may be present depending on the brewing water. Oak character is inappropriate.

Pale ale malt makes up the bulk of the malt bill, while a variety of English and/or American hop make for the complex hop aroma and flavor. A clean, American yeast is ideal and the water character can vary from soft to moderately sulfate.

OG: 1.075-1.090+
FG: 1.012-1.020
IBU: 60-100+
SRM: 8-15
ABV: 7.5-10%+

Case Study: Three Floyds Dreadnaught IPA

I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed. This beer was just too balanced, it reminded me more of an imperial red like Southern Tier's Big Red. There's a good citrus and spicy hop element that lasts into the aftertaste, but the malt is too big in both the aroma and taste. There's also the distinct, almost toasty Three Floyds house character that's especially big in the aroma, which is nice, but is another element that is bigger than it should be in comparison to the hops. I'm not sure if I should commend this beer for its drinkability, but it went down fairly easily. I guess I was expecting more hop bite. Alas.

Better Know a Beer Style: German Weizenbock

Style: 15C German Weizenbock
This style is based off the concept of a dark wheat beer brewed to a bock or doppelbock strength (6.5%+). Aventinus was the first boppelbock wheat beer, brewed in 1907 by Schneider.

It has a rich, malt-centered aroma of bock-like melanoidins (tastes like licorice I think) and bready malts combined with powerful dark fruit like raisins, plums, or grapes. Hops aroma and flavor should be absent.

The proper appearance is dark amber to a ruby-brown with a thick, mousse-like head of tan bubbles. It will also be cloudy do in part to the high-protein nature of wheat beers and the rousing of the bottle's yeast when serving.

Naturally, the flavor follows the aroma with dark fruit and bock-like malts and wheat. The yeast might also produce other German wheat beer flavors such vanilla, banana, and clove. The bready wheat flavor should be enhanced by large quantities of Vienna and/or Munich malts and be sweet on the palate, sometimes with hints of cocoa. Overall, yeast, malt, and wheat should dominate the flavor with no hops, DMS (vegetable aroma), or buttery diacetyl.

The body will be medium to thick, with moderate to high carbonation. There should also be a creamy feel and warming sensation from the alcohol while drinking.

At least half of the malt bill should be wheat, and it can go up to 70% wheat, with the remainder being Munich/Vienna type malts. A decoction mash (boiling the grains) adds appropriate body and flavor without cloying sweetness. Only a small amount of noble hops are to be used for a balancing bitterness.

OG: 1.064-1.080+
FG: 1.015-1.022
IBU: 15-30
SRM: 12-25
ABV: 6.5-8%+

Case Study: Ramstein Winter Wheat
I don't know, this seems a lot of their classic wheat beer to me without much difference. It looks a nice dark brown with tan head and lacing in my pint glass. The aroma and flavor have a strong, earthy character, which is cool, but not normal for the style. Beyond that I found undertones of orange and banana with bigger cocoa and roasted/toasted wheat and malt. This seems more like some hybrid of the weizenbock and an imperial porter. The dark fruit flavors are missing. Unusual flavor aside, the element of this beer that really struck me was the sheer drinkability. It hid the alcohol perfectly and offered a medium body that could easily be mistaken for a much weaker beer.

Overall, not my favorite in terms of flavor for the style, but it's something different and very easy to drink.

Better Know a Beer Style: Belgian Wit

About a month from now, I'll be taking the SAT's of beer, the Beer Judge Certification Program exam. This involves learning maybe 70 styles of beer, along with a good share of brewing science. So in preparation for this test of beer geekery, I'm going to be focusing on a few styles and explaining the ideal and origins.

Belgian Wit
This 400 year old style had practically died out until it was revived in the 1950's by Pierre Celis (Celis White is quite tasty btw). This beer should smell somewhat sweet with light grains, spicy wheat, herbal hops, and be accompanied by spices like coriander, vanilla, or vanilla.

The appearance will be pale straw yellow, made hazy by the addition of the bottling yeast (intentionally not decanted). And the flavor will mirror the aroma with more spice and herbal flavors like orange zest and a low hop bitterness. There might also be a slightly tart and sour feel. But overall, this will be a light, crisp, and refreshing ale.

Wits are typically brewed with a 50/50 mix of unmalted wheat and a base malt like pilsner, but a 5-10% addition of oats isn't unheard of. Ground coriander and sweet orange peel are the most common spice additions, but chamomile, cumin, cinnamon, Grains of Paradise are also appropriate.

OG: 1.044 - 1.052
FG: 1.008 - 1.012
IBUs: 10 - 20
SRM: 2-4
ABV: 4.5-5.5%

Case Study: Blanche de Bruxelles

Best before date of "20081213" appear to indicate this has a 12 month shelf life. That's a little odd.

It starts out looking good with a cloudy, pale yellow body. The aroma, however, indicates this beer might have had some rough shipment with immediate skunk. That dissipated after 10 minutes to leave a sweet, bready aroma that carried over to the flavor. I'm surprised by this bready malt, because while it is Belgian by nature, it's not the normal light and crisp malt I'd expect from a wit. This beer comes off more like a light Belgian pale ale, and an unremarkable one at that.

Per style guidelines, we see this beer is really missing an obvious spice component. There was a fruity sweetness similar to orange peel, but nothing more. It also wasn't crisp or very refreshing.

BJCP + Beer Review: Iron Hill ESB

In order to both gain more street/beer cred and ramp up my beer knowledge, I'm taking a course with the Beer Judge Certification Program. Why would I want to take any sort of class after I graduated from college just last Spring? Well every week we just sit around an Iron Hill brewpub drinking beer and talking about its finer points. Yeah, it's real tough, and if things go according to plan I'll be an official beer judge by March. Talk about a resume builder.

I don't usually drink much as it's an hour's drive from home and my attention span decreases exponentially with increased alcohol consumption, but this week I had a particularly good brew worth mentioning.

ESB
Extra Special Bitter
Iron Hill Brewery (North Wales location)

A- / 4.25 [on a 1-5 scales]
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | drink: 4.5

On-tap at the brewpub.

Man, it's hard to find an ESB this good. There's a subtle grassy hop note in the background of the aroma along with a hints of chocolate and big, creamy Ringwood character. That carries into the flavor with roasted caramel to make for a near perfect balance of the malt, hops, and yeast. Very drinkable and very tasty. I hope this is still on tap next time I'm in North Wales. Go drink this.

Beer Review: Cricket Hill East Coast Lager

East Coast Lager
American All-Malt Lager
Cricket Hill Brewing Co.

Overall: B+ / 4
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4

A great pale lager that's relatively full-flavored and well-balanced. The malts are clean and biscuity while the hops are crisp with floral and citrus flavors. The malt is a touch grainy, but not in a bad way. Rather it just adds to the flavor. I found this to be a great pairing with an opening course at dinner or as a stand alone appetizer. Worth trying if you're into lagers.

I'm guessing "East Coast Lager" simply means this is a more balanced beer betweent he hops and malt, while West Coast-style beers are hop-heavy. I might also consider this an American pilsner as the malt flavors tend to fall in with the likes of German and Czech pilsners like Pilsner Urquell.

Homebrew: Belgian Amber Ale

After some interesting results I've had recently with my Belgians recently - a spicy pale ale and a funky lambic - so I decided to give the genre another shot with a beer inspired by a recent favorite of mine, Flat Earth Belgian Pale Ale.

Here's the recipe:

7# Weyermann Pils
12 oz. Victory
12 oz. Biscuit
12 oz. Wheat
12 oz. Caramunich

1 oz. Challenger @ 60
1 oz. Saaz @ 30
1 oz. Saaz @ 5
1 oz. Herbsrucker @ 5
*Muslin bag used

Wyeast Activator Ardennes
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.008
IBU: ~40
ABV: 6.4%

Tasting Notes - 1/28/08 - Transfer to Secondary
Sweet and fruity with odd herbal flavors. This could get good or bad. The beer's been moved into the attic for two weeks of cold lagering.

Tasting Notes - 2/10/08 - Bottling
After two week of lagering in the 45-50F attic, this beer is fairly clear and the flavor has smoothed over to a nice, spicy mix of flavors including grassy hops and toasted malt. Yum. Should be ready to drink before the end of the month.

More Beer: My Top 5 Beers of 2007

Now that every media outlet has published their top-whatever lists of 2007 and gotten that out of the way, I firgured its time to throw a list of top beers for 2007 down. This isn't anything terribly comprehensive, it just happens to be my favorite beers I drank in the last year. Self-indulgent? Probably. Delicious? Most definitely.

1) Surly Brewing Co. - Bitter Brewer - 4.5/5 [My highest rating to date]
appearance:4 | smell:3.5 | taste:5 | mouthfeel:5 | drinkability:5

On-tap at the Blue Nile.

Damn, I tried to come in skeptical on this one but it blew me away. It combines awesome hops with the mellow and subtle flavors of a true bitter. I'm knocked out that the true can separate. First a big fruity hops flavor with pineapple punch and citrus hit. Then really mellow vanilla and malt flavors shine through. This beer is deep - the flavors just keep coming. The only real fault I found is that the aroma didn't do much for me and there wasn't much lacing. Whatever on smell and appearance, this one tastes so good I dare say it might be the finest Surly yet.

I want more.

2) Southampton Publick House - Grand Cru - 4.5
appearance:4.5 | smell:4 | taste:5 | mouthfeel:4 | drinkability:4

Wow, this beer really impressed me and I can in fairly skeptical. I loved the balance between sweet malt and uncommonly assertive bitterness for the style. The flavor had lemon, spice, and funky cheese-like flavors, I also got vanilla, orange in there and even some grape in the initial aroma. I'm a little amazed this. It was spendy at $12 a bottle, but still one of the best Belgian beers I've ever had. Damn, find this.


3) Rogue Ales - Morimoto Imperial Pilsner - 4.45
appearance:4.5 | smell:4 | taste:4.5 | mouthfeel:5 | drinkability:4.5

On-tap at the Blue Tusk

This beer rocks, no question about it. I've been hunting good pilsners all summer and finally I find this and I'm blown away. It didn't even taste that big, it just tasted good. The hops standout, but don't dominate or overpower the beer. They're crisp, a little grassy, with citrus and herbs. The malt is pale with a touch of biscuit and that distinct slightly funky pilsner malt taste. It's perfectly balanced and wonderfully drinkable. I can imagine the only improvement being to add a little more malt character. But damn, this is good beer.


4) Goose Island - Bourbon County Stout - 4.4
appearance:4 | smell:4 | taste:4.5 | mouthfeel:5 | drinkability:5

Vintage 2007, 13% abv.

Easily the smoothest, tastiest ~13% beer I've ever had. Yes, it's a bit thick, but no more so than weaker double or imperial stouts. The aroma is rich with the bourbon which once on the palate, doesn't dominate, but compliments the strong, dark chocolate ad espresso flavors. Throw in a dash of oak and vanilla and you've got a hell of a beer. More please.


5) McKenzie Brew House - Saison Vautour - 4.4
appearance:4.5 | smell:4.5 | taste:4.5 | mouthfeel:3.5 | drinkability:4.5

2007 GABF Gold Medal Winner.

On-tap at the Malvern location. I'm told they brew this with a bit of rye, I don't know if I could taste that in the beer, but what I did taste was freakin' amazing. I'll just start by saying the only thing that seems off was the carbonation, the bubbles weren't fine like a good saison is. Mouthfeel aside, the flavor was all over the place, yet seemed balanced. It was sweet and bitter, funky and fruity, there's some spice, some white pepper and citrus rind. Yeah, just trust me that this is damn tasty. Find this beer while you can.

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