Alright, I give up!

Well, let me clarify that. I don't give up on the blog by any means. But I do need something to keep it fresher and easier for me to update and by that, I mean I need to keep it easier for me to WANT to update it.

As of right now, I'm about four months behind with Beer Club and not being caught up with that has made me not really want to write about anything else. That being said, I'm going to do the quick and dirty catch up on Beer Club just to get it on record. I'm totally cool with that because I started this thing for me, first and foremost.

I'm trying to take down a keg of Hopslam today (with a little help from Allison) so I figured being stuck at home is a good excuse to get caught up with this stuff. Hopefully this means some more stuff on this blog but I need to do it out of left field. There are so many blogs out there and most of them are decent but the last thing I want to do is make a carbon copy that's just like 2500 other blogs out there. How am I going to do that? No idea. But I'm always open to ideas!

Beer Club Volume Thirteen - Oktoberfests, Part II

***Editor's note - Yeah, I suck at keeping this thing up. I'll try to do better once I get caught up with the next three! ***

The anniversary event, a year in the making had finally arrived. As I stated in August's write up, I can't believe we made it this far. I can barely hold a fantasy football league together from year to year, let alone a monthly beer club.

Don't get me wrong, people love to drink beer. They just don't always like to have it structured and that's one thing this beer club's control freak leader requires, structure. I've had lots of ideas that I've had to politely (and sometimes not so politely) turn down because they don't fit my vision of the club. Yeah, I really do take it that seriously but it has worked so I'm not fixing what's not broke.

It was only fitting that we had record attendance to celebrate our anniversary. Initially we tied it with ten of us but Paul U decided he couldn't miss it so he showed up late to give us eleven people.

Since I'm playing catch up with the blog, this will be a shorter entry but here's the lineup (with stats) that we all enjoyed (not counting some extra credit beers!):

• • Samuel Adams Octoberfest (5.3% ABV, ~ $.122/oz)
• • Schell's Oktoberfest (5.5% ABV,~ $.11/oz)
• • Victory Festbier (5.6% ABV, ~ $.138/oz)
• • Spezial Rauchbier Märzen (5.3 % ABV, ~ $.296/oz)
• • Great Lakes Oktoberfest (6.5% ABV, ~ $.138/oz)
• • Coney Island Freaktoberfest (6.66% ABV, ~ $.27/oz)
• • Two Brothers Atom Smasher (7.7% ~ $.327/oz)
• • Odell Woodcut Number 4 (11%, $25/bottle, ~ $.98/oz)

The finale of the lineup was far and way the most expensive bottle we've ever cracked for Beer Club but considering how cheap most Oktoberfests are and that this was a special occasion, it was definitely in order.

It was also the first time that we had a beer on tap since I had just picked up a keg of the Schell's Oktoberfest. The keg went over very well not just at Beer Club but also at Isenberg Freedom Fest a couple weekends before.

It was another great month for me because none of the of the beers seemed to be an overwhelming favorite and most seemed to have different fans. I like to see that because it means that Beer Club is accomplishing its goals of exposing several different people to several different beers to find out what suits each person.

The Odell of course, blew everybody way. Thankfully it did because I'd have been pissed about dropping $25 on a bottle that nobody liked!

Well, with the way the time is flying by I think we'll be celebrating two years of Beer Club before we know it. That's not a bad thing at all...

Beer Club Volume 12 - Altbier, Kölsch, a little of this & a little of that

Beer Club Volume 12... it's hard to believe even as I type it. Not only did we not fall apart after a few months but we've grown to be a pretty strong club. We've added people and the only ones we lost are one who moved away and a couple that realized it just wasn't for them. We did have a prodigal son but like in the original story we were all glad to have him back.

Brent being welcomed back to Beer Club in July

I think the line up for this edition, hell even the style for this edition, changed several times before I settled on something. I thought about continuing the summer beer theme with Kölsch or some other easy-to-drink lawnmower beer. I thought about dipping into the sour category. Then I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a potpourri of beers that could serve as a gauge for me to see what others would like to devote a month to.

Then one day I was listening to a podcast with Todd Parker, brewer at Copper Canyon Brewery in Southfield, MI and he was discussing the altbier and/or kölsch and I thought of an idea that Josh had to do both of these beers in the same month. He was telling me how there was a rivalry between the two towns in Germany that make these styles of beer. I did a little Googling and was very intrigued at the bitterness between Düsseldorf and Cologne.

So I made it a mission to track down four of each style and make them a lineup. I knew kölsch wouldn't be a problem with Schell's and Goose Island each putting one out as a summer seasonal and Lake Superior Brewing and plenty of others to fill out the last two.

Then I hit my brick wall. I realized as I talked/emailed/tweeted with people that altbiers were going to be tough to track down. In fact, most people couldn't even tell me what to look for let alone where to look for them. The first one was easy, I got word that Princeton's was carrying the Tyranena Headless Man so I grabbed a sixer of that.

At US Liquors in Hopkins I found something called Pinkus Münstersch Alt. I wasn't sure what the hell it was but I grabbed a couple bottles since it had Alt in the name. That my friends, was it. No more of it was to be found at this time of the year.

So, I decided to go with a hybrid of a hybrid of an idea. We'd do two kölsch and two altbiers and then throw in another four beers styles that would never be its own month of Beer Club (at least not in the foreseeable future).

I went with the Schell's Zommerfest & Reissdorf Kölsch to go along with the two altbiers that I had and decided to go with a HeBrew Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A (to give a taste of a rye beer), Founders Dirty Bastard (for a Scotch Ale experience), Brau Brothers Rubus Black (a blackberry imperial porter) and a Goose Island Fleur (which had just enough sour notes to it to allow me to test the waters for a potential sour lineup down the road).

Another reason I went with the Rubus was because Dan from the Four Firkins had taken a job as an assistant brewer at Brau Brothers and we were going to drink the Rubus and then ceremoniously change the Brau Brothers sign in my bar from "Population: 220" to "222" in honor of Dan and his wife.

Even had a first time guest at Beer Club

The beers went over pretty well I thought. Kölsch is one of those styles that's very close to the yellow fizzy beers, but only made well. I think it would be a solid style to get macro fans to drink but I'm afraid they wouldn't appreciate why they're paying $13 for 12 pack of Zommerfest instead of $17 for a case of Miller Lite. Luckily, we all did.

I thought the altbiers were surprisingly closer to the kölsches than I thought they'd be. Trying them side by side makes you realize why they're a rival beer even though they look nothing alike (the alts being dark brown and the kölsches being very light yellow).

My favorite part of these beers was talking about the history between the two, it's one of the things I always enjoy about Beer Club. It was also cool to hear Brent and Josh talk about their time in Germany drinking these beers. The highlight of the night for me was when Brent took a sip of the Reissdorf and then said he felt like he was in Cologne again.

The rest of the beers went over pretty well too. I was shocked at the unanimous decision to put together a sour month after everybody tried the Fleur. They might be regretting it when every part of them is puckering from something like a La Folie but at least we'll say we give it a go.

The Lenny was probably the most brutally bitter beer that I've ever had... and I really liked it. Obviously I didn't expect any citrus notes in the beer being that it was a rye IPA but damn, this stuff was an assault on the tongue. Not everybody liked it a ton but it was acknowledged for what it was.

Brent trying to decide if he wants another go at Lenny

The Dirty Bastard was the low light of the night for the group as a whole and that surprised me. It's a pretty big beer but I expected everybody to be able to handle it better. I'm not sure if it was the size of the flavor (I doubt it because we've gone much bigger than that before) or the flavor itself but I'm sure it was the worst reception yet for a Founders beer.

The Rubus went over great as was to be expected. It's a great beer and fair or not, when you'd got to meet the guys who make a beer it always seems to taste better and nobody forgot how much fun we had in Lucan last spring. As planned, we had a ceremonious changing of the Brau Brothers sign in the bar and even made sure the letter was a little cockeyed so everyone noticed it was changed.

Before and after

The mix and match of the night was kind of fun for a change of pace but when we were done I was really looking forward to getting back to a theme for the night and of course, that next theme was not only Oktoberfest but it was the one year anniversary of Beer Club!

Beer Club Volume 11 - Pilsners

*Editor's note - one of these months I'll get my Beer Club write up posted in time. July was not the month though.*

When I first started Beer Club, I would have never dreamed about doing a month focusing on pilsners. At the time, I associated pilsners with the yellow fizzy American macro lagers that Beer Club was supposed be leading me and my beer drinking buddies away from.

I'm not sure at what point it was that I drank a really good pilsner that made me re-evaluate what I thought about them but Pilsner Urquell was definitely one of the beers that made me revisit the style.

Somewhere along this beer journey of mine I got too consumed with bigger, badder and bolder beers to the detriment of appreciating and enjoying the more subtle and yet equally well-crafted styles of beers such as pilsners and even pale ales. Some people of influence made me realize the error of my ways. This Beer Club was designed to not only correct that but to illustrate just how far everybody had come in the past 11 months.

I picked out a lineup that did a pretty good job representing local stuff (Schell's) and US breweries from California (Lagunitas, North Coast) to Michigan (Bell's) to Pennsylvania (Victory) and threw in a couple from across the pond like Bitburger and the previously mentioned Pilsner Urquell.

From top to bottom, the beers went over very well with the guys (and girl). I actually thought there were a couple different ways to do the style and I couldn't decide which way I liked better. Beers like Scrimshaw and Pilsner Urquell had a very bakery fresh type of aroma and flavor to them in my opinion and beers like Schell's and Prima Pils had a very nice bitter hops character to them. I felt like a winner no matter which style I drank.

Just for fun, I took a Michelob Golden Draft Light (I believe this is somehow the most popular beer in Minnesota) that I found in the back of the fridge (left by guests no doubt) and had everybody try it in the middle of the lineup. It was pretty funny seeing everybody's reaction.

To me, it just tasted like carbonated water that I spilled an ounce of Schell's into. To others, it turned into a drain pour. This is the beer that half these guys used to stock their fridges at home a year ago and now they didn't even want to finish a 2 oz sample of it. Looks like I'm accomplishing something!

Like I said, everybody seemed to have a different set of favorites for the night. I already knew how good Pilsner Urquell and Schell's and Prima Pils were but the surprise to me was the Scrimshaw. It was a last minute addition when I couldn't find Brau's pilsner but it was damn good. I also think it was the best one in the bunch that could pull a yellow fizzy drinker over from the dark side.

I'm not sure if these beers will catch on for everybody and be the kind that they'd stock at home but now we all have better options when we want something on the lighter side of things than reverting back to Miller Lite or Mich Golden.

Pilsner Urquell

Time for another quick review. I first had Pilsner Urquell as a sample at the Four Firkins a few months ago. I wasn't able to get a good feel for the beer but I did know that I wanted to try some more of it.

For our anniversary shortly after that, Allison and I went to Murray's for dinner. It's amazing how a place that tries to be that classy can give me their "beer list" on a quarter sheet of paper that looked like it was typed up on a typewriter. Luckily I saw Pilsner Urquell on the menu and took a shot at it.

It was one of the best yellow fizzy beers I've ever had. Yes, I used that term to describe it but in this case, this is a yellow fizzy beer that the American macrobreweries should emulate. I added it to last month's Beer Club lineup (which I'm running a bit late on the write up for) and it was a hit.

This beer looks just like any Budweiser or Miller Lite for the most part when you pour it but that's where the similarities stop. Every time I pour this out of a can (and do buy the can, for some reason they bottle it in the skunk inducing green bottles) I get a bit of an off aroma, a bit of a sulfur type smell. That quickly fades though and the dominant thing that comes through for me is a beautiful fresh bread aroma. I know that sounds weird if you've never smelled it in a beer before but trust me, it's awesome.

The flavor has a slight hoppy note to it but is more biscuity and again, tastes like fresh bread and has a much fuller mouthfeel than your typical macrobrewer's "pilsner." The finish has some hops in it as well along with some sweetness.

If you've never had this beer before and like the idea of smelling and tasting a bakery in your pilsner glass, pick up a four pack of Pilsner Urquell (again, in cans) and enjoy!

Do you have an opinion on this beer? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Chimay Red

I figured what better way to get on a roll tonight than to review another beer. Since I bought some Chimay cheese last weekend and have been on a Belgian kick lately, I figured Chimay Rouge (or Red if you want to sound less pretentious... let's go with Red) would be a good choice for my second beer of the night.

If you've never heard of Trappist beers before, do yourself a favor and check out this link. When I chose Trappists for March's Beer Club, I found the history of the beer and the monks to be absolutely fascinating and loved everything about them before I even began trying all the beers.

If you've never tried a Trappist beer before, this may very well be your best place to start. There's a review on Rate Beer that puts it very much into perspective, when Bud Light was running its campaign on "drinkablity", this is the beer that should have been featured.

This stuff is just pure drinkablity beerified. The aroma and taste both fill your senses with sweetness, dark fruit, caramel and so much more with an absolutely beautiful finish. This review isn't to tell you what to expect from the beer. You either already know or if you don't, you just need to go buy a bottle right now.

You should be able to find it for about $4-6 which might sound a little steep but when you realize you're not buying a Bud Light but the equivalent of a (half bottle of) world class wine that's meant to be savored, you'll realize it's a good deal.

As for the cheese component, that's where the money thing gets a little crazy. The stuff isn't cheap at all, about $15-17 per pound. Not exactly Velveeta. But it's one of those things that's worth treating yourself every now and again. Plus wine's got nothing on these beers when it comes to pair with cheese. That being said, the cheese is not at all necessary to enjoy the beer, it's fabulous on its own.

I guess this entry isn't so much a review of Chimay Red as it is a recommendation of it and a blatant declaration of my love for it specifically and Trappist beers in general. Let me know if you'd tried this or not and if you haven't, let me know after you've made a run to your local beer store and gave it a try. If you don't like it, I'll buy ya a Bud Light. OK, that's not true. But I will buy you your favorite good beer if you don't like this one!

A review of Boulevard Collaboration No. 1 Imperial Pilsner

I figured it was time to get back to doing a few reviews on this blog from time to time. I realize I don't have the most sophisticated palate and sometimes have troubles picking out exact notes in the aromas and flavors but dammit, I like drinking beer and I can tell you if one is good or not.

So here goes, back in the saddle again with a Boulevard Smokestack series beer. This one is their first collaboration and it's an imperial pilsner made with the help of Jean-Marie Rock from the trappist brewery Orval.

After I was blown away by Odell's Double Pilsner (my first one), I was curious to see Boulevard & Orval's take on it. To clarify, I'm not saying I was blown away by how good it was (although it was pretty damn good) but by how full of flavors and aromas it was. It was an excellent beer, especially for $11 or so a sixer.

The Boulevard version poured with a pale orange color and a fluffy, white three-fingered head. I could tell by smelling that it wasn't going to be quite as big in the flavor department, but it had a nice grassy and malty flavor with a hint of hops. Using the Rate Beer rating scale, I gave it a 6/10 for aroma. I guess I expected more from an imperial version of the style.

The flavor was also a bit subtle but fortunately a bit more complex. I got more of the hops, some sweetness and some citrus. The finish was dry and crisp but unlike a lot of dry finishes, this one actually preserved much of the flavor and left it lingering on the tongue for awhile. I gave it a 7/10 for flavor and a 5/5 for finish.

I'd definitely drink this one again (I gave it a 15/20 overall), but don't know that I'd pay that price to buy it again (I can't remember exactly, but it was in the $8-12 range). I'd rather take the money and buy some Schell's Pils or some Pilsner Urquell. But if you're buying, I'm drinking!