Beer Club, Volume Four - Winter Beers

Welcome to yet another episode of Beer Club where the style picks itself. With all the winter beers and Christmas beers coming out I figured it was obvious choice if we were ever going to do them.

November/December was an insanely busy time for me so I put pretty much the entire lineup in Alvey's hands and this is what he laid out for me:

Samuel Adams Winter Lager
Well, OK, not this one. I bought a Sam Adams variety pack for the Toyfest party and had some of these left over and since it's very available (even on tap in the Twin Cities) I thought it was a good starting point. This one was OK, but pretty much just OK. As I stated in my review, it was better than a fizzy yellow beer but for the most part it was a pretty small beer for what I expected. I'd definitely drink it if I saw it on tap and the rest of the options were macrobrews.

Summit Winter Ale
It took awhile to get one of my favorite local breweries in the Beer Club lineup but I finally got it done. To me this kind of tasted like a winterized version of Summit EPA. It was hoppy just like Summit EPA but some twists and turns to make it different.

Bells Christmas Ale
One of my biggest surprises of the night. This was a fruity beer, both in aroma and flavor. I couldn't really put my finger on exact flavors but it reminded me of a fruity candy wrapped up in a beer (and somehow not in a bad way). I really liked this one.

Anchor Christmas Ale
To me, this was the quintessential winter/Christmas beer in the lineup. Lots going on in the way of flavors in a aromas, plenty of good spices to make you think of this time of the year. I also love the concept of changing up both the recipe of the beer every year and the labels. I guess it could suck if you found one you really liked but maybe they could go the route of Schell's Snowstorm if that happened.

Southern Tier Krampus
This one was a style that I don't really seem to gravitate towards but considering that it was a pretty decent beer. I appreciated the hoppy fruity nature of the beer and that made it something that I'd try again if I had the opportunity.

Ridgeway Insanely Bad Elf
This was hands down the star of the night for me. It was one of my first real experiences with a barley wine and apparently I could be a big fan of them. It was very boozy and slightly fruity but also had a sweetness to it that I really liked. I definitely look forward to trying more barleywines in the new year.

This month's Beer Club was a bit different for us in that we had several different styles of beer and it was tough to know what to look for. It was still a good choice because it gave us all ideas of what to drink over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

I know this is a couple days after Christmas but I hope you all had a great one (or a great whatever you celebrate) and have a fantastic New Year and a great year to come.

Catching up, starting with last Thursday

Last Thursday my new glassware from Stone showed up via UPS and the IPA glass was tested out shortly after I got home from work with...Stone IPA of course. The tasting glasses are very cool as is the rest of the merchandise.

I had a bottle of Un*Earthly from Southern Tier after the Stone and I've come to the conclusion that it must be the most volatile beer I've bought. As I've stated before, the first bottle I tried back in June did not go over well with me. Not the citrusy hops that I expected but a malty chewy beer that I wasn't too crazy about. The second one I tried was one of the best beers I ever had and the third one was right there too. But the one I tried this time was close to the first one I had. I know Alvey told me that the hoppy profile is the first thing to go with these kinds of beers but this one really surprises me.

I finished the night off with a couple Furious pints at Mainstreet while we watched Kenny, Josh and Tucker play.

Speaking of Surly, let's rewind a little bit and go over the first beer of the night. I called the Liquor Barrel in Golden Valley to see if they got any of the Surly Hell in and sure enough, they did so Allison picked up a couple four packs for me (the limit). After reading about the beer, I tempered my expectations because I too thought that something named Hell would be a more aggressive beer. But like all things, going into it with a bit of skepticism usually ends up giving you a pleasant surprise.

I figured this would be somewhere along the lines of Heineken or Rolling Rock and being that I hate these beers, it took Surly's name for me to even want to try this German style lager. I could taste that it was in the style of the above-mentioned skunky beers but without the stuff that I hate in those beers. Maybe there's hope for this style in my beer world yet. More to come on this when I officially rate it.

Dessert in a glass and some macrobrews

August 6th I was in New Ulm visiting my parents and brought a few brews with for the weekend. The first one I cracked open was and Un*Earthly by Southern Tier. Now I always give my mom a sip of whatever I'm drinking and she always takes it even though 90% of the time she makes the classic bitter beer face. I figured something that had 11% ABV and mad hops wouldn't be something to she'd like. She loved the smell, took her sip, nodded in approval and passed it on to my stepdad Marv who agreed with her assessment and they both took another swig before letting me have it back. Who knew? Maybe more people out there would like massively hoppy beer if they just gave it a chance.

August 7th we went out for supper at a local restaurant that of course had Schell's beers as 4 of their 5 taps - Grain Belt Premium and Premium Light and Schell and Schell Light with the standard Minnesota beer (Michelob Golden Light) being the 5th. I was in the mood to have a Premium so I ordered one and it went down so smoothly I had to order a second.

Later that night I opened up a beer I've been very excited to try, another Southern Tier beer called Imperial Creme Brulee Stout.

Here's what I wrote on RateBeer.com:

Wow, this beer has all kinds of stuff going on. Pours very dark brown with a brownish head to it. Smells amazing. Very sweet with aromas of vanilla, caramel. Flavor is also very sweet with the vanilla being the very prominent flavor. Massive beer that tastes like dessert in a glass. Had a 22 oz bomber that would have been perfect if I had 1-2 people to share it with.

I'm a little on the fence with this beer but leaning towards giving it big thumbs up. This would be the ideal beer to split between three people right after a meal for a literal dessert.

I thought I was done for the night but still wanted something so I cracked open the very refreshing summer beer, Rogue's Somer Orange Honey Ale. This stuff is so good in the summer that I'd drink tons of it if it wasn't so damn expensive. My RateBeer.com entry:

The commercial description is pretty accurate. Smelled very refreshing and tasted the same. Could definitely make out the orange and honey and didn’t find it to be too sweet which is what I was expecting. Went down very quickly, this is a very good summer (somer?) beer.

August 8th found me in Redwood Falls, MN for a wedding. Being the hate-to-be-late guy that I am, we were in town 45 minutes before the wedding started. After a long search for the only place in town to have beer (literally), I walked in with last night's Grain Belt still in my head wanting a glass of it more than anything at the moment. Score! It's one of 4 taps in the bar and went down as well as I had imagined on this scorcher of a day. I've decided this is going to be my next keg in the bar. It was my only beer of the day but I did have a couple of Johnnie Walkers at the wedding reception.

My first beer of August 9th was one of a Nude Beach by Point. The last bottle of this that I had was a little disappointing because it seemed to lack the flavor that I remembered when I sampled it at the Four Firkins. This one totally hit the spot though. It wasn't quite as refreshing as the Rogue from Friday night but wonderful none the less. Wussy beers do have their place and a super hot summer day is that place. Also had a few Mich Goldens at Mama G's before, during and after our volleyball games. Another beer in its proper place.

The sad news of the day is that the Cinema Grill doesn't carry its impressive array of microbrews during the summer. I went there excited to order a Furious only to find out that they only were carrying the 3 lightest beers on the menu until the fall. I changed my order to water because it seemed appropriate. Oh well, October isn't that far away I guess.