Share The Flow: Beers

One Last Toast to Summer: Pyramid's Haywire Hefeweizen

2009-10-02T21:20:00.001-07:00

Regular viewers of this blog must be tired of reading about "summer beers." I'll confess: I have become an addict to the summer beer and, as I'm not ready to let summer go, I figured I would squeak one last summer beer review into this blog. Hence, I offer you Pyramid's Haywire Hefeweizen.

The Pyramid Brewery is located in Seattle, Washington, but I have found their beers in specialty stores across the country. Pyramid is a mainstay in the northwest. It is on the verge of becoming a "mainstream" brewery. For the sophisticated beer drinker, this may be a turnoff, given that it may no longer be novel to reference the Pyramid beers. However, any jump into the mainstream is well-deserved. Pyramid is a respectable brewery from just about all angles. They are located across the street from Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners. Each October, the brewery hosts a two-day concert series in the brewery parking lot to launch its winter beer. Past acts have included Built To Spill, Presidents of the United States of America, the Dandy Warhols and numerous others.

But enough about the brewery's marketing efforts. Let's talk about the Haywire Hefeweizen. This beer has been around for years, but Pyramid has rebranded it this year, giving it the new name that is used in this review. Pyramid claims it was only a name change, not a recipe change, however I, along with many others, are convinced the recipe has changed because the taste has notably improved.

The first taste of the Haywire is crisp with a subtle, citrus flavor. I have never been a fan of "sweet" or "fruity" beers, which is why you have seen few reviews of Belgian beers. Consequently, in my opinion, the mark of a good hefeweizen is a balance between the citrus giving it a full flavor, but not being excessively sweet. The Haywire accomplishes just that. In fact, it has all of the "lightness" of the pilseners that have become the staple of American mainstream beers, but has the full-bodied flavor that a pilsener could never accomplish.

Here's how Pyramid describes the Haywire:

"The standard by which all other wheat beers are judged. Our deliciously deranged American-Style Hefeweizen is an award winning take on this Bavarian classic. This refreshingly unfiltered wheat ale delivers a distinctively smooth flavor worth sharing with friends.

Original Gravity:

12.5

Alcohol By Volume:

5.20%

Malts:

39% 2 Row Pale Barley, 60% Malted Wheat,1% Caramel

Hops:

Nugget, Liberty, Mt. Hood

Availability:

Year Round

Best Paired With:

Fish, Salads, Poultry, Spicy Foods

Awards:

-Gold Medal, American-Style Hefeweizen 2004 Great American Beer Festival -Bronze Medal, "American Style Wheat Ale or Lager", 2000 World Beer Cup -Silver Medal, World Beer Championships, "Weizen", 1997"

The Best of the Best: Boulevard Wheat

2009-08-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

I have spent this summer searching beer aisles in grocery stores, liquor stores, and specialty beer stores for the best summer beers, which, in my opinion, are wheats, hefeweizens and pale ales. This post will focus on the wheats. There are some fantastic wheat beers out there. But after spending a week in Kansas City, Missouri, I'm not sure that I will find another wheat beer that beats the Boulevard Wheat. The Boulevard wheat is an unfiltered wheat. The reason I believe it is one of the best summer beers has to do with how well-balanced it is. It is a beer that sophisticated beer drinkers as well as light beer drinkers can enjoy. It is a thin beer that makes it accessible to folks who would prefer drinking Bud Light or other similar, watery beers during the hot weather, but it has a tremendously smooth, rich taste that elevates over any other light beer out there.

The Boulevard Wheat has a light, toasty flavor to it, is mildly bitter and has the standard traces of fruitiness (perhaps peach) to it that come with all wheat beers. It isn't excessively hoppy, like many of its competitors. Rather, it is strictly wheat. In other words, Boulevard acknowledged its strength in the midwest and built a strong beer from it.

Unfortunately, it is somewhat difficult to find Boulevard products outside of the midwest. This is slowly changing, but requires a visit to the speciality stores on the east or west coast.

Here is what Boulevard has to say about its Wheat at its website:

" American-style Wheat Beer

AVAILABILITY: Year-round; bottles and draught

INGREDIENTS: Pale malt, unmalted soft red winter wheat. Magnum & Simcoe hops.

STARTING GRAVITY: 11.3 degrees Plato

ALCOHOL: 3.5% by weight, 4.4% by volume

BITTERNESS UNITS: 13 IBUs

AVERAGE EBC COLOR: 7.5

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer is a lively, refreshing ale with a naturally citrusy flavor and distinctive cloudy appearance. This easy-drinking American-style wheat beer has become our most popular offering, and the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest.

SENSORY DESCRIPTION: Subtle flavor profile with hints of wheat and grain works well as a compliment to lighter dishes. Mild sweetness compliments fruity dishes. Flavor hooks: subtle fruit

PAIRINGS: Very light foods including salads, sushi, vegetable dishes or fruity desserts. Grilled chicken and boiled, steamed or broiled seafood, breads and pizza. Feta, Gouda or Gruyere cheeses also pair well"

Beer from the Last American Frontier: Alaskan White Ale

2009-08-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

The peculiar thing about beers from Alaskan Brewery are that, in many respects, they all taste the same. Alaskan Breweries make an Amber, a Pale, a Stout, an IPA, a smoked Porter, and a Winter and Summer Ale in addition to the White Ale. I've had most, but not all, and each, while different, carries the same distinctive spices that Alaskan Breweries are known for.

For some, this might sound like a criticism. However, the nice thing about the distinctive Alaskan Brewery flavor is that it is solid and reliable. Alaskan Breweries do not make a bad beer and the White Ale, a relatively new addition to the Alaskan reportoire, is no exception.

Anyone who has drank the Alaskan Brewery beers knows that they can be heavy beers. However, the White Ale is somewhat of a departure from this tradition. It is a crisp beer with a subtle citrus taste that is easy to drink on any occasion. It has a slightly dry finish to it. The best way to describe it is by saying it is a light beer with all of the traditional Alaskan Brewery flavors.

Here's what Alaskan Breweries has to say about its White Ale:

"Style:
Alaskan White Ale is based on a Belgian-style witbier, literally translated to "white beer." White beers, or "witbieren," are named for the suspended wheat proteins creating a cloudy appearance in this unfiltered beer.

Flavor Profile:
Alaskan White Ale has a soft, slightly sweet base with the unique spice aroma of coriander and crisp, citrus finish of orange peel. A light and effervescent body combined with the smooth palate creates a complex and delicate beer that is deliciously refreshing in any season.

History:
Popular in late 18th century Belgium before the universal use of hops as a bittering agent, Witbieren were traditionally flavored with coriander, citrus and a secret spice known only to the brewer. Alaskan Brewing recreates this historic style with Alaskan White Ale.

Ingredients:
Alaskan White Ale is made from glacier-fed water and a generous blend of the finest quality European and Pacific Northwest hop varieties, wheat and two-row specialty malts. Our water originates in the 1,500 squaremile Juneau Ice Field and from the more than 90 inches of rainfall Juneau receives each year.

Recommendations:
The crisp flavor of Alaskan White Ale pairs well with spicy foods and lighter fare including fresh salads and grilled shrimp or halibut.

Specifications:
Original Gravity: 1.047, Alcohol by Volume: 5.3%, Bitterness: 15 IBUs, Color: 7 SRM

The Story Behind the Label
Polar bears are native to the Arctic Ocean and can be found traversing through the snow, ice and open waters along the northern coastlines of Alaska. Although closely related to the brown bears of Alaska, the polar bear is classified as a marine mammal adapted to the icy climate of the Arctic. Alaskan White Ale toasts this extraordinary bear and its place at the top of the world."

Go German with Paulaner Natural Hefeweizen

2009-07-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

Walking through the store tonight, I came across the Paulaner Hefeweizen. I had not heard of this beer before, so I figured I would pick one up. With the summer heat kicking in, I've been on a Hefeweizen kick, so I was happy to come across something new.

Honestly, I write this particular review, not because the Paulaner sticks out as one of the better Hefeweizens I've had, but rather because it is one of the more interesting that I've had.

The Paulaner Hefeweizen is a true, traditional German hefeweizen, not the type that we are more familiar with in the United States. My first reaction when I tried it was that it was extraordinarily dry beer. At first, the taste is a citrus, sweet malty flavor, but it quickly evaporates in your mouth, drying up so much that it seems as if you didn't just put a liquid in your mouth. I've always been a fan of beers that have this level of dryness.

This beer is definitely worth a try. When I first tried it, I wasn't impressed, but the more I drank of it, the more my opinion improved. It is slightly sweeter than your typical hefeweizen.

Here is what the Paulaner website has to say about it's natural Hefeweizen:

"Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier is the best-selling beer by the Paulaner Brewery. Specially produced top-fermented yeast is what gives it its unmistakeable character: sparkling light, fruity, and just a tiny bit bitter. Because it is not filtered during the brewing process, it retains its originality and the many vitamins, minerals and trace elements.

Hefe Weissbier Naturtrüb:
12.5% original wort; 5.5% alcohol; 44 kcal/100 ml"

On another note, the Paulaner website is one of the more unique brewery websites that I have seen and is worth checking out at www.paulaner.com/

The Rarest Beer I Know...oh...and Probably the Best

2009-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Three Floyds is a diamond in the rough...Indiana. Every few years they produce just 70 cases of The Dark Lord, an imperial stout that typifies this style of brew. The beer pours thick, not Guinness thick, but "I put way too many grounds in the coffee maker" thick. The head is a dark caramel and the lacing is a very tight caramel web. The body is an opaque dark brown, nearly black. For a 13% abv. (depending on how long you have been cellaring your brew), it carries the alcohol well, leaving a mostly chocolate, caramel, and coffee mouth. The coffee tones come from Starbucks coffee used in the brewing process technically making this an imperial coffee stout.

Those lucky enough to attend "Dark Lord Day," a celebration held at the brewery each time the beer is released, will be the only owners of a case of this rarity. Each case (limit one per person) is signed and dedicated by the master brewer. You can see my friend Jake got himself a case (he shared...'cause I chipped in), and we have slowly enjoyed it over 3 years now. This beer ages WELL. The alcohol increases, the flavor develops and becomes even more complex, and it still maintains a smooth texture.

If you can get a hold of one of these...DO IT. Save it for a cold winter night and drink it to warm the soul.

I'm a Loser Baby: Elysian Brewery's Loser Pale Ale

2009-07-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

Elysian Brewery in Seattle, Washington has issued special release Loser Pale Ale to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Sub Pop Records.

I came across this beer last night in our local specialty beer store. Everybody had told me that Elysian makes great beers, but for some reason, their beers never really reached out grabbed me when I was trying to make that tough decision at the store. Some might find this surprising given the great labels on the beers, which have cartoonish god figures on the front.

But how can you resist a beer simply labeled "Loser" on the front? So I walked out of the store with my 24 ounce bottle. The label on this beer is great. It is a black and white image of the good ole grunge days of the early nineties. I'm not quite sure who is on the label, but it evokes images of Stephan Malkmus or Kurt Cobain.

When you pour this beer into a glass, it has a great copper/orange tone to it. The taste is well-balanced with a slight nod to the hops, which fits my general preferences. It starts with a hoppy, interesting grapefruit taste but finishes with a nice bitterness that is not too overdone. The grapefruit is mixes with some other spices that I can't quite figure out what they are.

Oddly enough, there is no mention of this special release at the Elysian Brewery's website.

I just tried this beer for the first time at 5 p.m. on a Thursday going into a three day weekend and I'm not sure there is a better way I could have started the weekend.

An Ale for the Slopes: Whistler's Classic Pale Ale

2009-07-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

I have always associated pale ales with the spring and summer reasons for no particular reason other than the light, refreshing taste seems to fit well with the hot, summer weather.

I recently came across Whistler Brewing Company's Classic Pale Ale. I had never tried any of the beers from this brewery, but it the name recognition alone peaked my curiosity. For those who are not familiar with Whistler, it is a popular ski resort in British Columbia, Canada and will be the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Classic Pale Ale has a bronze color to it that is slightly darker than many pale ales.

The taste is more in tune with traditional brown ales and it has a bit of a smokey taste to it, which makes it an ideal drink after a day on the slopes in the sun. The smokey flavor may be the result of some sort of nut flavoring, but it is tough to figure out. The taste is pretty unique. It is one of the few tastes that I can not quite put my finger on, perhaps due to the mixture of the four types of hops used. It is a very crisp beer that has both a very slight bitterness and a subtle sweetness in the after taste.

Despite my tendency to categorize pale ales as spring and summer beers, the Whistler Classic Pale as definitely more accurately defined as a fall or winter beer, probably best consumed as the sun goes down in the late afternoon hours as is so typical in the northwest region of the continent.

Here is what the Whistler Brewing Company has to say about its Classic Pale Ale:

"Whistler Classic Pale Ale was developed with the ale lover in mind. This classic ale is brewed to exacting standards with no less that four specialty malts, 4 types of hop and of course, exclusively with Whistler Glacier Water. Bold and full flavoured, this is definitely an ale lovers ale.

BREWMASTER'S NOTES

Appearance:
Bright bronze with flashes of copper. A tan coloured creamy head that will lace your glass right to the last drop.

Aroma:
English hop aromas with light caramel and earthy notes.

Palate:
Characteristically crisp, slightly caramel with a wonderfully light bitterness.

Finish:
Clean, smooth and distinctive."

Something to Drool Over: Big Sky Brewing Company’s Moose Drool Brown Ale

2009-06-28T19:07:00.001-07:00

The Big Sky Brewing Company is located in Missoula, Montana, where I had the privilege of first trying this beer. Over the past year, their beers have been showing up in local grocery stores throughout the Northwest. Recently, I found their beer at a specialty beer store in the Midwest. The growing popularity makes sense as soon as you try the Moose Drool Brown Ale.

The Brown Ale has the solid taste of solid oatmeal stout, but maintains a light side that makes it easy to enjoy a few without getting too full. To keep with the theme of previous posts, the brown ale/light side of it makes it an enjoyable summertime beer for those looking for something to drink in the hot-summer sun, but prefer to drink something with a great taste as well.

The Brown Ales is interesting. It has the chocolate, oatmeal taste of a microbrew stout, but is smooth and easy like most brown ales. It is a well-balanced beer in that it has a great taste to it without being overbearing, which is common among many beers that strive for the chocolate, oatmeal taste.

Here is what the Big Sky Brewery has to say about the Moose Drool Brown Ale:
“That first taste, the best part of a beer after a long day. We want to make that better than ever. So we made Moose Drool. The name sounds a little iffy, but it's really the best Brown Ale you'll ever taste. That's why Moose Drool is far and away the best-selling beer brewed in Montana.

It's chocolate brown in color with a creamy texture. A malty beer with just enough hop presence to keep it from being too sweet. The aroma mostly comes from the malt with a hint of spice added by the hops. Moose Drool is brewed with pale, caramel, chocolate, and whole black malts; and Kent Goldings, Liberty, and WILLAMETTE HOPS. It has an original gravity of 13 degrees Plato, and is 4.2% alcohol by weight, 5.3% by volume.”

Doing it Doggie Style: Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale

2009-06-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

This week, with a few days off of work, I headed up to the local specialty beer store with the intention of finding some summer-style beers to write about, which included mostly pale ales, wheats, and hefeweizens. Most were unimpressive as a result of their watered-down tastes. But I got to one that I enjoyed quite a bit. And I should have known I would enjoy this beer from the second I saw it. The Flying Dog Brewery was the first brewery to open in Aspen, Colorado in over one hundred years. The bottom of the label quotes the once local celebrity Hunter S. Thompson: "Good people drink good beer."

The Flying Dog Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale has the light feel of a summertime beer (i.e. a great beer for hot weather), but maintains a fullness of taste. It may just be my new, favorite hot weather beer. This beer is well-balanced and the malt taste filters through the mild citrus flavor upon the initial taste. The first taste is sweet but finishes with a mild bitter taste. Overall, it has a great crisp taste to it.

Here's how the Flying Dog website describes the Classic Pale Ale:

"Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale is brilliant amber in color and dry hopped with buckets full of Cascades for an unrivaled hop flavor and aroma. This is a true representation of an American-style pale ale, using the finest ingredients. Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale is a multi-award winning product and is consistently ranked as one of the best pale ales in the U.S."

The Classic Pale Ale is 5.5% ABV and uses 120L Crystal Malt and Northern Brewer, Cascade hops.

A Great Summertime Beer From Spoetzl Brewery: Shiner Hefeweizen

2009-06-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

By now, Shiner beers are well-known across the country due primarily to the growing popularity of Shiner Boch, a fine beer in and of itself. I generally try to stay away from well-known breweries since the goal of this website is to expose viewers to new beers they might not have come across. However, as often as I come across Shiner Boch in local grocery and liquor stores across the country, today was the first time I had come across the Shiner Hefeweizen.

I didn't quite now what to expect with the Hefeweizen. Shiner Boch is a personal favorite of mine. It was the only beer I had ever associated with the Spoetzl Brewery. Honestly, I my first reaction to the hefeweizen was not positive. The first taste seemed a bit too bitter. But I waited a minute or so and had a few more drinks and my opinion started to change. This really is a great summertime beer. It mixes great taste with the light beer feel of unfiltered wheats. It's ideal for someone who needs to cool off from the heat with a nice cold one, but can't bring themselves to drink Budweiser or Miller products.

The first taste as you take has a great citrus taste. And this is coming from someone who does not like fruity beers. But that citrus taste quickly dissipates as the malt flavor kicks in and it finishes with a great dry feel.

Here's what the Spoetzl Brewery has to say about Shiner Hefeweizen:

"Hefeweizen recalls the classic beers of Bavaria as a true unfiltered wheat brew. This beer captures old-world Munich Malt, wheat grist used in a scant 1% of all brews worldwide, orange and lemon zest in a frothy classic example of bottle-conditioned beer. Adding clover honey and yeast just before it's bottled touches off a unique, secondary fermentation process inside every keg and bottle before its final release from the brewery."

Down From The Mountain: Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout

2009-06-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

I am a stout-lover. Stouts have been my favorite beers for as long as a I can remember. In recent years, the stout have become my winter beer while I lighten up to hefeweizens and pale ales in the summer. Afterall, it is sometimes tough to drink a few stouts in the hot and humid summer weather. However, the Breckenridge Brewery Oatmeal Stout is one of those stouts that is great for all seasons.

The flavor is pretty unique for an oatmeal stout. It is not unusual to come across a chocolate-flavored oatmeal stout. But this beer has more of a roasted chocolate coffee flavor to it that makes it especially tasty.
The great thing about this beer is that it is popping up at more and more speciality beer stores around the country. You can buy it in a six-pack, usually for about $7.99.

This is a black beer with two row pale, carmel, roasted barley, chocolate, and oak flakes. Breckenridge Brewery uses chinook and perle hops. It is 4.95 ABV.

Breckenridge Brewery describes the Oatmeal Stout:

"Rich, round and roasted, our Oatmeal Stout is satisfaction in a glass. It's a bold, smooth-bodied concoction that oozes dark-roasted coffee aromas and flavors of espresso and semi-sweet chocolate. We wround these heady pleasures with a dose of flaked oatmeal for a creamy body of semi-dry finish."
You can learn more about the Breckenridge Brewery at their website.

Double the Pleasure: Boulevard Brewery's Double Wide I.P.A.

2009-06-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

I realize this makes two I.P.A. recommendations in a row, but as I walked down the aisle of our local speciality store, the Boulevard Double Wide I.P.A. jumped out at me. Boulevard Brewery started in 1989 in Kansas City, Missouri and has grown quickly in the last twenty years.

Having lived in Kansas City for a few years in the past, I was very familiar with this brewery, which has a reputation for creating all-around, good beers. It's one of those breweries where, when you see the Boulevard name on the label, you know you're getting a good beer.

The Double Wide I.P.A. stood out to me for two reasons. First, it is rare to see Boulevard as far away from Kansas City as the Pacific Northwest, which goes to show you that its beers are slowly catching on around the country. Second, this beer is part of a new series of specialty brews called the Smokestack Series.

At the Boulevard website, this is what the brewery has to say about the Smokestack Series:

"We've made beers like these for years, but just for ourselves and brewery visitors. Now, we're able to share these limited edition brews with a wider audience.

A labor of love, these bold, complex ales include both traditional styles and daring experiments, allowing our brewers to explore some of the more esoteric realms of their craft. They have been carefully nurtured and refined through countless test brews over many years.""

As I write this, I am sipping the first few tastes of the Double Wide I.P.A. and it is a fantastic beer. This beer is 8.5% ABV, but you would never know. It does not have the overbearing taste that you sometimes get with the stronger I.P.A.s. This is a well-balanced beer with a nice caramel malt that balances out the hops. The first taste is both smokey and citrusy. It has a slightly bitter, dry aftertaste, where the flavor really bursts. This is a great beer for I.P.A. lovers.

Here is what Boulevard Brewery says about the Double Wide I.P.A.:

"We use Zeus and Magnum hops for both bittering and aroma, and Ahtanum hops solely for aroma. Two additional dry hopping regimens employ Ahtanum, Centennial, and Chinook varietals. The resulting beer--not surprisingly--has a hop forward aroma, redolent of peach and apricot. The assertive flavor bursts forth with citrus notes of blood orange and lemon, and a caramel malt backbone serves to balance the intensity of the hops. Warning: this F4 hop storm shows no restraint--it is not for the faint of heart!"

Dogfish Head: Got Time for A 90 Minute I.P.A.?

2009-06-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

A good friend introduced me to Dogfish Head a few years back. At the time, it was very difficult to find this brand west of the Mississippi. But over the last year or so, it has started to pop up more and more at specialty beer shops around town. This beer is a must for I.P.A. lovers and you will realize it as soon as you open the bottle and get a whiff of what is inside. This beer is hops central. Its ABV is 9%, but you would not know from the taste because Dogfish Head does such a fine job balancing the hops and malt. This beer is only slightly carbonated and is much more smooth than the typical I.P.A. The flavor is pretty robust, with hints of grapefruit and pine.

Here is what the Dogfish Head Brewery has to say about it:

Esquire Magazine calls our 90 Minute IPA., "perhaps the best I.P.A. in America." An Imperial I.P.A. brewed to be savored from a snifter. A big beer with a great malt backbone that stands up to the extreme hopping rate. This beer is an excellent candidate for use with Randall The Enamel Animal!

Original Release Date:

04/2001

Food Pairing Recommendations:

Pork chops, beef, grilled fish, frites, focaccia, split pea soup, Stilton cheese & escargot

Glassware Recommendation:

Snifter

Tasting Notes:

Brandied fruitcake, raisiney, citrusy

The Royal Brewery of Krusovice: A Rare Treat

2009-06-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

This is my current favorite. The Krusovice Cerne was recommended by a bartender at one of my favorite bars in West Seattle. It is a great tasting, dry beer. When you take a drink, you get a great brown ale-type flavor that quickly evaporates. This beer is very dry. It is a great summer beer, but it can be difficult to find. I would recommend it to anyone who would consider themselves fans of I.P.A.s or stouts. Here is the story of the brewery from the local tourism board.

"The Královský Pivovar Krušovice (the Royal Brewery of Krušovice) is one of the oldest and at the same time one of the most advanced breweries in the Czech Republic.

The oldest mention about the brewery is already from 16th century. You can find The Royal Brewery of Krušovice cca 50 km away from Prague on the Prague - Karlovy Vary route.

The historical buildings of the Krušovice brewery are being continually renovated. At present in one of the parts of the brewery the famous beer of Krušovice is made. Other part of the brewery is possible to see during the brewery tour. Most excursions finish with beer tasting in the Meeting Room, the room itself was previously used as a malt house.

First-class raw materials, prime technology, experienced and honest brewers - that all makes up quality which is common for all four types of Krušovice beer which the royal brewery brews nowadays.

Light lager beer has a slight gold colour, a deliciously bitter taste and an excellent foam. The dark beer has a full, sweet caramel taste and a light hop flavour. The high quality of the raw ingredients assures the excellent taste of the beer. This beer has many friends at home as well as abroad and the number is still increasing. The same interest of foreing market has the Czech Premium Lager, this beer has a slight gold colour, a deliciously bitter taste and an excellent foam. Pleasant and significant sharpness is another of its qualities.

n the collection is not missing the Musketeer Beer. This beer is brewed in accordance with a special recipe developed by Krušovice's Master Brewers. This lager beer has a strong golden colour, a pleasant bitter hop taste, a full sweet body and a compact foam."

Free State Brewery Oatmeal Stout

2009-06-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

This one has a special place in my heart after having spent a few years in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the Free State Brewery. The typical night involved a few stouts with one of the brewery's great meals and then I'd head over to catch a show at the Bottleneck, a small, intimate music venue that hosted national acts. For a stout-lover, the Free State Oatmeal Stout is a must-try. It's well balanced and is really smooth, something that you don't see in many microbrew stouts. Here is the brewery's description:

"Silver Medal Winner 1997 World Beer Championships - Oatmeal Stouts. Our classic dark beer. Full body and a well rounded flavor comes from a foundation of seven different grains. The oats add a special silky texture that complements the roasted malts. The rich malty flavor is spiced with plenty of Northern Brewer and Fuggles hops for balance. Enjoy this perennial Free State Favorite by itself or as a blend with one of our other beers."

Also of note is that this is a very strong beer. It is not an imperial stout (Free State has its own seasonal imperial), but it doesn't take but a few to really feel the effects. You can purchase growlers at the brewery. I have not come across any place online that offers the Free State beers.

Lawrence, Kansas is forty-five minutes west of Kansas City, Missouri. If you find yourself in the area and have time on your hands, this is the place to go.

A Great Summertime Brew: Snoqualmie Copperhead Pale Ale

2009-06-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

I'll start this post by recognizing that I am not a sophisticated beer drinker. I enjoy good beers and I enjoy trying new beers I haven't heard of. I have always been a fan of darker beers, especially stouts. But there is something to be said about a lighter beer such as a pale ale or hefeweizen in the summertime. One that has caught my attention in recent months is the Copperhead Pale Ale made by Snoqualmie Brewery, which is located in the mountains just forty-five minutes east of Seattle, Washington. The Northwest is known for its microbrews. I don't hear this brewery talked about a whole lot and I've never received a recommendation for it, despite the fact that Seattleites love to give microbrew recommendations.

I usually buy the Copperhead Pale Ale at our local QFC in Seattle. It comes in a twenty-four ounce bottle and runs about $3.49 a bottle. It is 5.3% alcohol. I am enjoying one as I write this blog. Here is Snoqualmie Brewery's description of it.

"We use light Crystal malt with Two-row Pale, Munich and Aromatic malts to give Copperhead Pale Ale a slightly toasty flavor and deep gold color. Cascade hops add just the right amount of aroma and dryness for a clean, bright ale that pairs well with most foods."

I like the Copperhead because it is very flavorful, but not overbearing. The hops balance is great, which I like since so many beers lately seem to be judged by the amount of hops. The rule seems to be, the more hops, the more hype. I agree that hops is important, but some beers over do it.

I agree with Snoqualmie's description of the "toasty flavor." That pretty much nails this beer. This beer probably won't win any awards, but is no doubt, a reliable, good-tasting beer. Be careful though: a few too many of these will leave you with a worse hangover than you would have predicted.

You can learn more about this and other Snoqualmie beers at their website, where they appear to be working on an online store: www.fallsbrew.com