Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Wow - they blend better than crabs and cheddar!

This Tuesday was a quick and dirty beer blending day. Yovo had a meeting and couldn't make it down to Doctor Phelanstein's Lab (aka Dain's Place) with me. In reality, I think he was afraid someone would make him drink more of that Triangle Belgian/Seeing Double concoction he created last week. ;-)

I settled on a "traditional" half and half, with a stout and an ale. Only I chose an imperial stout and an India Pale Ale. The stout came from Baltimore - Peg Leg Imperial Stout from Clipper City's always-impressive Heavy Seas line. This dark beauty weighs in at 8.0% ABV, and has a delicious dark chocolate/coffee flavor that lingers on the tongue. For the ale, I chose Wolaver's Imperial Pale Ale from Otter Creek in Vermont. Part of the Organic Ales lineup, this is a wonderfully drinkable IPA - tart, tangy and refreshingly crisp. And it's organic, for what that's worth. At least they don't market it as free range beer.

I couldn't get the blend to separate. Granted, I didn't try very hard. These two beers seem to have a close affinity for one another. And with good cause - the blend is delicious. All of the thick rich flavor of the Peg Leg is apparent from the moment the first drop hits the tongue, but with an added semi-bitter bite from the Wolaver's. Then in a minor miracle of beerblending chemistry, the Peg Leg aftertaste gives way almost completely to the crisp hoppiness of the IPA. Like scraping your tongue with bittersweet chocolate, and then licking a grapefruit rind. But good.

Nobody was around to verify my take on this blend but Dain, and he was on duty so he could only sample a minuscule straw-full, but he agreed it was tasty. And he's not even a hophead! I'm not sure how to rate this one, given the lack of a coherent rating system, so I'll say it gets a gold star sticker and a smiley face. If only the Wolaver's was a high-gravity beer, I'd add a plus sign. And maybe a check mark. Long story shorter - it's good.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Double Trouble - Blending Two Local Favorites

Today at Dain's Place on 9th St. I was, as usual, mostly surrounded by IPA drinkers (and a Tequila aficionado) so when I suggested blending Foothill's Seeing Double IPA with Durham's own witbeer, the Triangle Brewery's Belgian Golden, I just got shit from everyone.

Even Oz hesitated, but then he did his duty. I mean, I take this seriously. I want danger and adventure. Shortbus blended the Seeing Double with a ... Pale Ale. Daring today, aren't we!!

Anyway. It worked great. Sure, it's a bit out there, but it works. The Belgian Golden really holds its own against the hops onslaught from the Seeing Double. The Golden brings its Belgian-style fruity yeasts to bear, and they clash a bit, but they work it out. This is not for the faint-of-heart, but it's a keeper for a real beer blender.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Tuesday Afternoon - not the damned Moody Blues song.

Lunch at Dain's Place. Beer mixing.

So after a warm-up shortbus, we decided we'd try Highland's Gaelic Ale mixed with Flying Dog's Gonzo Porter. The Gaezo, as it came to be known, was disappointing. Highland just doesn't have the cojones/gravitas/flavor to hold its own against the Gonzo. It drank like watered-down Gonzo. In other words, meh - not so good. But that's life in the beer blending biz. Shite or gold, we mix it, we drink it, and we report the results to you.

After that disappointment, Dain suggested Flying Dog's own Kerberos Tripel as a worthy counterpoint to the Gonzo. Yovo and I were in no mood to argue (actually we were in more of a mood to drink), so we agreed. This is a more interesting blend. The Gonzo's bitter chocolate and sweet malty flavor yielded to the almost overpowering alcohol sweetness of the Kerberos Tripel. We both ended up adding more Gonzo to the mix to account for the out-of-balance flavor. It worked well. All things considered, it lacks the hop profile to which I have become accustomed, but makes for a smooth, eminently drinkable, relatively high-gravity mix. Well worth trying, although not serious competition to the original shortbus for magical deliciosity.

Born at the Rusty Ozfest - Expedición Café

I knew Oz brought the Patrón XO Café for a reason...

Sometime in between bands my remaining ounce of Patrón XO coffee-infused tequila, and most of Corinna's two ounces, found their way to the bottom of a pint glass, where they were joined by the contents of Dain's last bottle of Bell's Expedition stout. The chocolaty head just reached the tip of the glass, and the aroma was nothing short of amazing. Malty cocoa stout with a strong dose of coffee, finished off with an unmistakably "tequilesque" zing to the sinuses.

The flavor was fantastic, even if the drink itself was somewhat heavy for a hot summer night. Hell, it might be a bit heavy for the coldest of winter nights. I'm pretty sure this stuff could stand upright on its own without the glass. This is definitely one to enjoy by the ounce, not by the pint. I can't be bothered to do the math in figuring out the alcohol content of the mix, but the Expedition on its own is 10.5%, and the Patrón XO weighs in at 35%.

As this is my first experiment with beer/liquor blending, it goes without saying that it's the best such mix I've ever had. I was singing its praises while it was ringing my bell, and I can't wait to try it again. In moderation.

Monday, July 14, 2008

The Shortbus

The Shortbus
This is our original blended beer - the Shortbus.

This is still the best! You pour a half pint of Foothill's Seeing Double IPA and then carefully layer North Coast's Old Rasputin Imperial Stout on top.

Dan came up with this one last fall, and this was so good that it encouraged us to try other blends of high-quality beers. They don't have to layer as nicely as this one does. These two beers do separate exceptionally well.

These two beers are both aggressive, huge and very potent brews. The Old Rasputin gives you a mouthful of complex, rich malt flavors - chocolate, coffee, caramel - and then the Seeing Double slaps you upside your head with its massive, complex hops profile. It's quite amazing how neither beer dominates the combination. They complement each other nicely and the blend is tied together by both beer's subtle, but distinctive fruity sweetness and the anything-but-subtle alcohol (both just over ABV 9).

This is our original beer blend, and it is still my favorite. Based on this, we were encouraged to experiment with blending other beers to find other compelling combinations. It might not always be easy to find some of these beers (Foothills only distributes in NC at this time). And some of the blends we explore might be a bit - uh - risky. But it's all good fun. And never boring. Remember: Life is too short to drink just one beer at a time.

Blend Beer

American brewers have gone completely mad. They dump their entire stock of hops into a beer (Hop Shortage Ale). They age beer in unpitched wooden casks (Palo Santo Marron, Heresy). They use weird ingredients like apricots (Aprihop), honey (Hopslam), raisins (Raison D'etre) or chrysanthemum flowers (Chateau Jiahu). Are all of these strange brews really technically "beer?" Who cares? But since some American brewers are certifiably off the deep end, we decided to up the ante and start blending beers.

So on this page you'll be able to find out what happens when you blend a Palo Santo with a Seeing Double, or Double Dog with a Heresy, without endangering your own health. Enjoy!