Black Top - Bottom’s Up

Happy Hop Day!  Today we're looking at a new beer style (or sub-style) for me.  One of the beers that I received for my birthday was a New Glarus Brewing Company Black Top Black IPA.  When I poured it, I noticed immediately why it was called a “black IPA” - it had the color of a porter or a stout.  As I poured, it formed a nice head which faded slowly, leaving a thick lace on the glass.

The scent was very subtle, but it reminded me a little of fruit cake, except less spicy.  My first thought when I took a sip was that the mouth feel was very clean.  My first impression was that it was like drinking a glass of water, the way that it washed all over my mouth and then kept moving.  Normally this isn’t something that I like in beer, but I paid more attention to it with my second sip and realized that my first impression hadn’t been accurate.  There was a solid, front-to-back softness that carried with it the thickness of the malt and the tanginess of the hops, but initially, they’re hidden by a crisp, smooth, fresh feeling that is deceptively clean.  After that passed, I noticed the more pleasant mouth feel that I expect from a good beer, lingering the longest toward the front of the roof of my mouth and leaving my tongue puckering with expectation for another sip.

The flavor was very well balanced between malt and hops.  At least for an IPA, I thought it was very balanced.  The hops were a bit stronger, but there was a very distinct roasted coffee flavor that I found to be the predominant flavor.  In slow motion the flavor went:  crisp, sweet, sour, bitter, roasty and coffee - with the coffee notes lingering along with tanginess from the hops.  The aftertaste was predominantly that roasted malt flavor supported by a sweet hoppiness. 

As far as IPAs go, this wasn’t what I normally consider a standard IPA because of how much of an influence the malt had, but the impact of the hops was exactly what I look for in an IPA.  Now, although I prefer hoppy and bitter beers, I am a huge fan of stouts and porters (stouts being the first beer I drank regularly, they will always hold a special place in my heart).  This beer combined the best of both worlds.

I easily give this beer a five star rating.  I love it.  I’ve had beers that I like more than this one, but I like it a lot, and it brought such a balance and strength to the flavors, all flavors that I love, that I can’t help but give it a five.

The description on the bottle is right “Expect this beer to pour a hop forward jet black glass brimming with aromatic bitterness.”  It goes on to say “Brewmaster Dan skillfully weaves molasses and chocolate malt undertones with a soaring rush of clean citrus and pine hop notes.”

Molasses?  Yes, I can see that

Chocolate?  No, but maybe I don’t have enough experience with chocolate malt to pick it out

Clean citrus hop notes?  Definitely

Pine hop notes?  Hmm.  I had to think about it while drinking this, but yes, I definitely detected the Pine hop notes. 

I love this beer!

While drinking the beer, I read the bottle.  It said, “We invite you to discover this newest beer style Black IPA.  Political debate rages over the origins of this jet black beer as both coasts feel they deserve credit.”

What?  A new style?  Both coasts claiming it as theirs?  So this is a new American Hybrid?  I figured I had to know more.

BeerAdvocate refers to this style as the American Black Ale:  “Also referred to as a Black IPA (India Pale Ale) or Cascadian Dark Ale, ales of this style range from dark brown to pitch black and showcase malty and light to moderate roasty notes and are often quite hoppy generally with the use of American hops.”

Ratebeer describes it as “An emerging beer style roughly defined as a beer with IPA-level hopping, relatively high alcohol and a distinct toasty dark malt character. Typically lacks the roastiness and body of a strong stout and is hoppier than a strong porter. Expressive dry-hopping is common. Also called India Dark Ale, India Black Ale, Cascadian Dark Ale, Dark IPA, and sometimes India Brown Ale.”

BeerScribe provides a nice introduction and description of the Black IPA in a short blog post that I suggest you read:  http://www.beerscribe.com/2010/09/01/the-black-ipa-problem/

If you love hops and enjoy malt, I definitely recommend New Glarus’ Black Top.  If you are a fan of one, but not the other, then I encourage you to give it a try and post a comment here to let me know what you think.

Bierthday Gift

Back on my birthday, Brad hooked me up with a sampler of New Glarus beers.  Samplers are something that he’s been putting together for people, and it’s a brilliant idea.  So simple that I’m not sure why I never thought of it.  He’ll buy a number of six packs (or twelve packs) and then he assembles sampler six-packs.  For my birthday he gave me:

• Hearty Hop Ale - India Pale Ale
• Back 40 bock - Wisconsin Bock
• Black Top Beer - Black IPA
• Road Slush Stout - Oatmeal Stout
• Cabin Fever Lager - Wisconsin style Honey bock
• Laughing fox Beer - Kristal Weizen

Honestly, it’s a nice mix and there are some seriously tasty beverages, most of which I haven't had before.  I think we should all follow Brad’s example and start giving beer as gifts.

St. Lou's Brews

My friend Brad is in town for the weekend.  He lives in O'Fallon, outside of St. Louis, Missouri; and on this return trip, he brought me a selection of craft beers from St. Louis.  Although he's the one who introduced me to Budweiser Chelada, he's not much of a fan of Anheuser-Busch.  He has always been more of a Jack Daniel's guy, but over the last year or so, he's begun sampling a wide variety of craft beers - which he tells me is expensive in his area because of the "AB laws" and sin taxes making everything so pricey.  He said that the beers he gave me were around $3/bottle, which I'll agree is kind of expensive.  Not that I wouldn't pay it, but it definately makes it more difficult to sample good beer if that's the price you're paying at the liquor store for a 12 oz bottle.

The beers are from three breweries - O'Fallon Brewery (O'Fallon, MO), Schlafly brand beer from The Saint Louis Brewery, Inc. (St. Louis, MO) and Boulevard Brewing Co. (Kansas City, MO).  Okay, so one of the breweries isn't a St. Lou brew, but he made a point of bringing me all Missouri beers. 

He said that he prefers Boulevard to Schlafly, but he didn't tell me where he ranks O'Fallon except to say that (for him) O'Fallon Gold, a golden ale, tastes a lot like Schlitz.  On the other hand, he said that the Boulevard wheat is "pretty Damn good."  Fortunately, he's leaving me to make my own decisions, and not only has he given me a big selection, he made sure it had plenty of IPA, porter and stout beers to cater to my personal preferences.

I can't wait to get started!

Hearty Hop Ale

Happy Hop Day!  Although I have finished my six pack of Potosi Snake Hollow IPA, I figure there is no reason that a good thing should come to an end.  Today’s beer comes from a mixed sampler of New Glarus beers that my good friend, Brad, gave me for my birthday.  I’ve intended to write about them for some time, but we all know how time and good intentions are.  Nonetheless, we’ve got one to lead the pack:  New Glarus Brewing Company’s Hearty Hop Ale.

I poured it into the glass and have to say that I immediately liked the deep golden hue with a nice red backbone.  It had a prominent head that gradually faded, leaving about a quarter inch of eggshell-colored foam.  It smelled bready and citrusy, like peeling an orange while entering a kitchen with the windows open to a cool, sunny spring day and then catching the scent of freshly baked English muffins.

I took a big sip and instantly noticed the mouth feel - comfortable and soft, like liquid velvet.  It started at the front of my mouth, slowly working back the roof to my palate and then curling around the sides of my mouth, creating just a bit of a pucker at the back of my cheeks.  The flavor was mild, with the malt flavors driven far to the background.  I found the malt unnoticeable except when I concentrated on it.  Even then, it was only really there at the beginning of the sip, quickly enveloped by the hops.  The hops were bitter, but I didn’t notice either floral or fruity notes.

The bottle says “Expect this Ale to pour a glass brimming with rich caramel flavors . . .”  It’s true, I would describe the initial maltiness has having rich caramel flavors, but they didn’t quite have the staying power I would have liked.  The bottle also spoke of the “intense hop aroma.” Which I’d agree with based on my “peeling an orange” and “open windows on a spring day” references.  There is not a bit of false advertising on the bottle.

My favorate IPA?  No

A good IPA?  It's certainly above average.  Maybe I’m thinking about it too much or maybe I’m just looking for something different.

Drinkable?  Definitely.  I could drink a couple of these right now, if only I had another.

It’s best quality?  It’s color.  It is a beautiful ale with a nice head.

It’s second best quality?  It’s scent.

It’s third best quality?  It’s aftertaste.  The aftertaste brings something to the flavor that is close to the scent, but which I didn’t find while drinking it.

The flavor, although good, was uninspiring.

I have yet to meet a New Glarus beer that I dislike.  And I certainly don’t dislike this one.  It’s good.  Quite good.  But I don’t know if it exemplifies what I am looking for when I purchase an IPA.  I don’t know whether or not that is a short coming of mine or of this particular beer.  I say that if you like a bitter beer, but aren’t looking for anything too bitter, buy this beer and try it for yourself. 

I rate it 3.5 - 4 stars.

Happy Hop Day! The final Potosi Snake Hollow IPA

Today (conveniently  timed with National Craft Beer Week) is the conclusion to our six week series with the Potosi Snake Hollow IPA.  Primarily because I just polished off the six pack I’d bought.  We’re going to do another round of beer and food pairing, and this one was inspired by Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher, in which he says, “Dessert works beautifully with beer.  In case you missed that, let me reiterate:  beer is fantastic with dessert!”

Today we’re doing cake, and that’s really all about economics.  I enjoy the occasional cake, but on the whole, cake doesn’t really get me going.  But since I wanted to drink my Snake Hollow with a variety of deserts, my shopping lead me to an important discovery - if you’re one guy drinking one beer and you want to sample a selection of desserts, it’s not easy to do on a budget.  Although there is an increasing number of single-serving desserts in stores these days, there aren’t many that are both inexpensive and decent quality. (No surprise - “You get what you pay for” typically holds true for food.)  I aimed for middle ground and erred on the side of “I like to put gas in my car,” which means I went with frozen cakes from Pepperidge Farm and Sara Lee.  Not bad brands, but I don’t think of “frozen” and “cake” as being paired unless “ice cream” separates them.

Anywho, I picked up:

• A Pepperidge Farm Coconut cake - white cake with coconut filling and shredded coconut sprinkled on the frosting
• A Pepperidge Farm German Chocolate cake - chocolate and coconut
• A Sara Lee Carrot Cake - carrots/pineapple, walnuts spices and cream cheese

An important lesson that I learned is about the way that come at food and beer pairings.  Either I’m going to need a way to get people to come over so I can justify the expense of better quality food, or I’m going to need to limit myself.  Party anyone?

Carrot Cake
I know there are plenty of people who don’t care for carrot cake. I do, but it has to be good. I’ve had disappointing carrot cake in the past. This one was okay, but I found it just a little bland. The cake itself was dense and moist, which was good. There were definitely walnuts in it, and the frosting had a nice cream cheese flavor and texture.

• Beer first, then cake - The spice of the carrot cake was replaced by the hoppiness of the beer for a little bit, but then the hoppiness faded and the full on carrot cake flavor took over.  It didn’t detract from the beer, but it didn’t add anything to it.  The combination with the cake was nice, but it didn’t add too much to the cake - although after I finished the cake, there was still a hint of the beer’s maltiness that was very nice.
• Cake first, then beer - Now this was interesting, the carrot cake sweetness and carrot-ness blended nicely with the maltiness of the beer; and the spice of the cake and the hoppiness of the beer blended nicely.  It wasn’t overly bitter, but I think that each drew the sweetness out in the other.  This was really good.
• Both together - This was much the same as starting with cake and then washing it down with beer; but with the full-on sweetness of the frosting in my mouth, the leading flavor from the beer was tartness.  This was a good combination

German Chocolate Cake
As a cake, it was okay. As a frozen cake it was good. As a German Chocolate cake it was disappointing. The cake was light and fluffy, but not moist. And it was too fluffy for what I expected. The chocolate flavor was mediocre where I expected richness. The frosting was smooth and creamy. All in all, it was an okay cake, but we I think the name was a bit misleading.

• Beer first, then cake - It tasted like beer and cake.  It tasted good, but neither noticeably added or detracted anything from the other.
• Cake first, then beer - The sweetness of the cake overcame the flavor of the beer.  There was a moment of sourness at the back of my palate from the beer that was a little unpleasant, but it faded quickly into the bitterness of the hops and then I was left with the solid malty flavor in the after taste.  Not bad, but not great.
• Both together - The sweetness of the cake still in my mouth prevented that sourness from surfacing (or what sourness was there was pleasant and at the front of my mouth).  This was a real nice combination.  The cake took the prime position, but the sweet maltiness with a little bitter bite and a solid malty aspect finished the flavors.  Very good.

Coconut Cake
It was a white cake that looked a lot like an oversized Little Debbie snack cake. The cake itself was soft, light and spongy. The frosting was a little stiff, but I’m not sure if that was because of the style of frosting, because the cake had been frozen (although I had thawed it completely) or because of all the shredded coconut pieces on the frosting. The cake itself was not coconut, but the frosting had coconut and the filling between layers supposedly was coconut flavored. I could tell it was coconut, but the flavor wasn’t nearly as strong as I expected. Still, it was much better than I expected of a frozen cake.

• Beer first, then cake - After I put the cake in my mouth, the beer flavor faded to the background, leaving a noticeable combination of sweet from the cake mingling with the sweet and bitter of the hops in the beer.  Then, as that faded, I was left with the sweet coconut of the cake mingling with sweet hops and malty body of the beer.  That faded to leave an overall sweetness in my mouth.  This was very good.
• Cake first, then beer - The beer flavor was prominent after I took a sip, but the cake minimized the effect of the hops and emphasized the malt.   As the flavor faded, the sweet coconut of the cake remained after the flavor of the beer was gone, but I was still left with the pleasant mouth feel that you get from a good malty beer.  At this point, I realized that the beer is really emphasizing the coconut flavor of this cake far more than the cake by itself presented.  Interesting and tasty.  This was very good.
• Both together - Malt, coconut and sweet hops with barely any noticeable bitterness except for the hint left on the hoppy / coconutty aftertaste.  This was also very good.

Honestly, it seems that there is no wrong way to do an IPA with cake.  Granted there are other cakes out there, but I get the impression that they would all fare just as well.  After my mixed results with cheese, this was a food pairing that I can get behind (although hopefully not three pieces of cake in one sitting again - that’s a little too much sweet - even for me.)  Randy Mosher, you were right - Beer is fantastic with dessert!

Happy Belated Hop Day! Potosi Snake Hollow 5

Hello fellow hop heads!  I’m a little late in getting this posted, so I hope you all had a fantastic Hop Day and enjoyed a good, cold beer yesterday.  Today’s Hop Day is Potosi Snake Hollow IPA and cheese.  Unlike wine and cheese tasting this has Wisconsin written all over it.

I have chosen six cheeses to try with the Potosi Snake Hollow IPA today:

• Mozzarella
• Swiss
• Parmesan
• Extra Sharp Cheddar
• Feta
• Bleu

The goal was to run the spectrum between mild and strong and to add in a variety of flavors.

Mozzarella:

 

Fresh mozzarella (which should be redundant, but these days isn’t), not shredded for pizza or in sticks for string cheese, but creamy, mild with just a touch of sour

1. Beer first then cheese - The combination added nothing to either the beer or the cheese.  It didn’t detract from either, so I suppose that’s important.
2. Cheese first then beer - This smoothed the flavor of the beer some, reducing the impact of the hop bitterness and making for a clean finish; but it did not do much else for the beer.  It didn’t add anything to the cheese.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - Not good.  It made the cheese taste almost like sour milk.  I found it very unpleasant, and it really did nothing good for the beer.

Swiss:

 

This was not a classy swiss of any kind:  not a baby Swiss or aged Swiss.  It was your standard block of swiss that you find in the regular cheese aisle (at least what you find in SE Wisconsin.  I can’t speak for anywhere else).  It had a mild, but nutty flavor and was just a touch on the dry side.

1. Beer first then cheese - The IPA was so strong that it masked the flavor of the cheese when I first started chewing, but then after the cheese had been in my mouth a little longer it seemed to act like an eraser, completely eliminating the beer taste from my mouth and leaving only the cheese flavor.
2. Cheese first then beer - Neither overcame the other in this situation.  The cheese flavor faded to the background, but the nutty flavor of the Swiss remained prominent while not diminishing the flavor of the IPA.  The result replaced the floral, slightly sweet flavors of the hops with an emphasis on the malty flavors of the beer, while still retaining the bitterness.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - This was much the same as leading with the cheese, except the bitterness even seem reduced, and it maintained the full flavor of the cheese throughout.  I enjoyed it.

Parmesan:

 

The cheese was dry, but not overly crumbly.  It was firm, and although the flavor was unobtrusive, it was distinct and pleasant.  I have trouble defining parmesan by any flavor other than to say it is “parmesanish.”  It is rich like butter, salty and tastes just a bit like the day old crust of a very good homemade white bread. But then there is a rich element for which I cannot seem to find a good comparison.

1. Beer first then cheese - This was odd.  I didn’t care for it, but it didn’t go quite so far as to be what I would call “bad”.  The parmesan quickly scrubbed away the flavor of the beer, which helped.
2. Cheese first then beer -  Again, there was an odd overlap that seemed to accentuate the sourness of the beer in a way that I found unpleasant, but not revolting.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - This did not have the same odd, unpleasant effect.  The tastes flowed from one into the next:  sweet beer, rich cheese, dryness from the cheese, finishing with the bitterness of the beer.  I enjoyed it, but this is a combination that you have to be VERY careful with because it is far too easy to have something that tastes bad.

Extra Sharp Cheddar:

 

Somewhat soft (this was not a 3-5 year cheddar.  It was probably barely 18 months old).  Buttery. Tangy, a little salty and that element to cheddar that makes it “sharp”

1. Beer first then cheese - The beer seemed to sap most of the flavor from the cheddar.  It wasn’t bad by any means.  But it was very disappointing.  The combination didn’t add anything to the beer, but it subtracted a lot from the cheese.
2. Cheese first then beer - It emphasized the sweetness and maltiness of the beer while reducing the bitterness.  There wasn’t much cheese flavor in my mouth except it finished with the tanginess you expect from a sharp cheddar.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - It was not bad, but it was not good.  I tasted beer and cheese.  The flavors did not mix well, and they each seemed to detract some of the more pleasant elements from the other.

Feta:

 

Very dry, very salty, a bit of sour cream flavor, but otherwise mild

1. Beer first then cheese - The feta completely overpowered the beer immediately
2. Cheese first then beer - There was a momentary sweetness and bitterness that was suddenly swallowed by the saltiness and tanginess of the cheese
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - it was like there was a ghost of beer in my mouth, but again, the cheese completely overpowered the beer.

Bleu:

 

Creamy, crumbly, salty, sour in a way that makes the back of your mouth pucker, rich and tangy.

1. Beer first then cheese - The beer was overcome by the cheese, but the cheese only had the “feet” flavor associated with bleu cheese.  Not a good combination.
2. Cheese first then beer - This was very rich, very salty, sweet, a little malty and just a hint of bitter.  This tasted good.
3. Both in my mouth at the same time - The same as cheese first, but more so

One bottle of beer with six cheeses and 3 ways to combine them each - it’s a bit tricky to get enough beer and not run out.

Honestly, I don’t know the best way to match cheese and beer because they seemed to pair differently depending on how I ate them and what cheese I was using.  It varied.  What I can say for sure:

 

Good Combinations:

• Swiss and IPA
• Parmesan and IPA (if done right)
• Blue cheese and IPA (again if done right)
• Cheddar and IPA (If done right)

 

Real bad combination:

• Blue cheese and IPA (if done wrong)

 

The rest weren’t great, but they weren’t bad enough to matter.  I wonder if doing them as a grilled cheese sandwich would make a difference?

I suspect that there may be other cheeses that pair better with IPA.  I’d be willing to give it a try.  It could also be that IPA is just one of those styles that you have to pair carefully with cheese.  Or maybe I just don’t know what I’m doing - but if it’s that hard, then who’s going to take the time to sit through a lot of bad combinations just to find the good ones?  Well, other than me . . .

 

Hop Day! Potosi Snake Hollow IPA 4

This week drinking my Potosi Snake Hollow IPA was not just something I enjoyed while writing up this post.  Instead it was half of the material.  The other half was chocolate.  That’s right, I decided to try a beer and food pairing with and IPA and chocolate!

I wanted to try the effects against different kinds of chocolate, so I picked up three to taste with my beer.  I wanted to see how the experience would be different with different kinds of chocolate, so I used a milk chocolate, a dark chocolate and what I think of as a novelty chocolate (in this case dark chocolate with orange and almonds): 

• The first chocolate that I sampled was Dove “silky smooth” milk chocolate.  Since I love chocolate, I’ll eat just about any kind; but I have to admit that I prefer dark chocolate.  Nonetheless, I wanted to do this right so I chose Dove because I prefer their milk chocolate to the old classic, Hershey’s.
• The second beer that I paired with my beer was Ghirardelli Intense Dark Midnight Reverie.  I chose it because it was 86% cacao, and I tend to like my dark chocolate VERY dark.  Honestly, it was a little less sweet than I generally like, so although it is a chocolate that is still right up my alley, I believe I would have been happier with a 70% cacao dark chocolate.
• The third and final chocolate for my pairing was Lindt Excellence “Intense Orange” dark  chocolate with pieces of orange and almond slivers.  I chose this as my novelty item because I wanted a very distinct flavor coming from the chocolate, and for the sake of my attempt at pairing, I was willing to risk a bad combination.

Honestly, I didn’t know what I was doing, so it took me some trial and error to figure out how to maximize the experience from combining of chocolate and beer.  I wasn’t sure if it would make any difference or if, like eating cranberry sauce and drinking milk, there would be an order of consumption that would end up being a very bad idea.  Fortunately for me, I found that there is no wrong way to eat chocolate and drink beer; but that doesn’t mean that every way is equal.

I started by eating a piece of chocolate and then washing it down with beer.  To me, at least, It tasted like I was just eating a piece of chocolate and then washing it down with beer.  Not bad, but neither element seemed to bring anything special to the combination.

Armed with a trusty glass of water and some saltines I cleansed my palate and tried again.  I took a sip of my beer, swallowed it and then, while the aftertaste of the beer was still strong, ate a piece of chocolate.  This seemed to amplify flavors a little, but not in a way that I could define very well (I’m not a professional by any means, so my average-joe senses just weren’t up to the task).

Finally I tried something inspired by an old trick that I used to do as a kid - and which I’m sure many of you have done too.  As a child, I would pour chololate syrup into my mouth, take a drink of milk and shake my head.  When I was a bit older, it was sloe gin and orange juice.  Now, minus the head shaking, I tried it with the chocolate bar and beer.  I placed a piece of chocolate in my mouth, chewed and then took a sip of beer so that the two mingled in my mouth.  Victory!  The flavors of the two together worked to emphasize some elements while diminishing others.

1. Milk Chocolate - The flavors came in a specific order: malty - sweet richness - chocolatey - sweet hoppiness - bitter - just a touch of sour
2. Dark - This combination was defined by the flavor of sweet, floral hops with just a little bit of bitterness.  The maltiness seemed to take a back seat, becoming almost unnoticeable.  There was a slightly bitter finish, but it wasn’t strong.  I enjoyed this combination quite a bit, but if you are looking for the beer to add something to your chocolate experience, then you might be disappointed:  The flavors of the chocolate seemed to fade to the background while the beer was the star of the show.  The beer, on the other hand, greatly benefitted from the chocolate.
3. Orange Dark - The flavor of the chocolate alone was strong, orange not being a mild flavor.  Much like the milk chocolate, the flavors seemed to come in stages.  The leading flavor was the orange, fading into a floral hoppiness and then giving way to a bready finish.  In my opinion, this was the best combination of the three because not only did the chocolate cut the bitterness of the hops, but the sweet of the chocolate enhanced the inherent sweetness of the beer (rather than over shadowing it).  The citrus of the fruit paired well with the beer to amplify the floral notes of the hops so that the shining stars of the flavor were the fruit of the chocoloate and the hops of the beer, while the chocolate and maltiness acted as a choir of joy supporting the two stars of the flavor performance in my mouth.  Okay, so maybe that’s a little corny, but it was really good.