The Indulgence Blend

This is a blend that rivals the "Sex on the Shortbus" - in flavor as well as in challenge. Today, after a huge, delicious Thanksgiving meal (I loooove that brined turkey!!) I decided that a proper digestiv was in order. Last year I had squirreled away some bottles of Bell's Expedition Stout, and then last spring I got some bottles of Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA. So I went down to my beer cooler and got a bottle of each of these delicious, slightly aged beers. I tasted each separately, then I blended them. They separated nicely, with the stout, again, dropping to bottom.

These two intense beers blend to a complex synergy of huge, mocha-caramel maltyness and in-yer-face bitter hoppyness, tied together by their sweet undercurrents (in the case of the "IPA" the sweetness is still almost a rip tide) and "tight" alcoholic nose. And. A. Long. Looooong. F.i.n.i.s.h.

After a year, the stout is settling down (I had some of this year's batch earlier this week) but the 120 Min IPA is still impatient and fresh after 6 months. I'll have another one a year from now :)

Maybe I should call this the "Patience Blend" ...

Coffee Monster

Shopping for nutritious refreshments for this Thanksgiving Holiday, I came upon Terrapin's Monster Beer Tour at Sam's Blue Light. I procured two 4-packs - Wake 'N' Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout and Big Hoppy Monster - both beers packed with flavor but not excessive on Alcohol (7.5 and 8 ABV, respectively). After enjoying half a pint of the happy Hoppy Monster (a big, overhopped red ale), I poured some of the stout in that glass, only to watch the thick creamy stuff drop to the bottom of the glass like a rock.

The resulting blend is remarkable: complicated, flavorful (to say the least) and a bit nervous. It retains the stout's strong alcohol, big malts, and adds the monster's bitter, immensly enjoyable hops bite. Not an easy alliance, but it does hang together, in the end, especially if you go easy on the stout.

Both good beers, but I think I'll hang on to a couple of bottles each, give them some time to see what happens. They both feel a bit fresh. I noticed the same thing with the Brooklyn Chocolate Stout. Good beer, but give it 10+ months and it turns into a great beer ...

Spontaneous Rogue Blendfest

At the end of the afternoon there stood 2 empty bombers, one empty 12-ounce bottle, and 3 very satisfied, rather wobbly beer blenders. We entertained a guest beer blender on Friday who instigated the day's roguishness, and neither of us can thank Bill enough for that - there was not a failed blend on the day.

First came Rogue's Imperial Red Ale, in the impressive black ceramic bomber. 9% ABV with an alcohol-sweet, malty character, this impressive ale practically screamed "blend me!" So we did. With the old standby, The Nectar from Camel City. Yovo took the bottle first, painstakingly (and slowly!) layering the blend with the Imperial Amber floating atop the Double IPA, as Bill and I sipped our Seeing Double pints down to the mid-glass blending level. I was not so patient with the pour, and added the Imperial Red at a pace sufficient to thoroughly mix the beers in my pint glass.

All agreed this was a fantastic blend, with the sweetness of the Red balancing extremely well with the characteristic Seeing Double hopsmack. As we savored the blend, Dain suggested adding a small dose (maybe 2 or 3 ounces) of Foothills' Total Eclipse Stout into the mix. We did. Fantasic quickly morphed into outstanding as the hearty stout managed to absorb some of the Red Ale's sweetness while at the same time countering the DIPA's hop bitterness. This was our first ever tri-blend, and we believe we have crafted a true winner.

Next came a bomber of Rogue's Double Dead Guy, a special one-time-release of this American doppelbock. Yovo and I had tasted this one before, but Bill had not, so we all enjoyed a few sips straight-up. Damn tasty stuff. Malty like a good doppelbock should be, but with a slight twinge of hops. A little out of character in a doppelbock, but we had no complaints. So... what to blend with it?

Yovo elected to enjoy his straight-up, and good for him. But being good little hopheads, Bill and I settled on Victory's Hop Wallop to up the bitterness ante. Of course, I was slightly intoxicated by the time this blend came to me, so I don't have much to say about it. It was a malty doppelbock mixed with a very hoppy ale, and that's what it tasted like. Not as good as the Imperial Red with Seeing Double and Total Eclipse, but certainly no slouch, and *definitely* not a failed blend.

I hope we'll be taking Bill to lunch with us more often.

Shortbuspallooza

The Shortbus. Our classic beer blend. How about a Shortbus party?!

Earlier this year, I found out - through well-informed channels - that our local purveyor of fine beers (Sam's Blue Light) had a couple of sixth-barrel kegs of Old Rasputin in the cooler. I was further informed that the kegs were going on 2 years old, and that they were available for a rather modest sum for purchase ($75). Without hesitation I paid a visit to Sam's and aquired one of said kegs.

So, as Halloween rolled around, I procured a pony keg of Foothill's finest Seeing Double IPA at the same establishment and hauled it home, just in time for our annual Halloween Party. I proceeded to cut open a steel barrel and carefully placed the two keg inside, filling the rest of this improvised "kegorator" with ice. I will always cherish the memory of that first pint of "Shortbus on Tap" ... and the second ... and the third ... and then my memory does get a bit blurry ...

The party was fun, and the beer drinkers present made a valiant effort. But 10 gallons (40 liters) of +9% ABV beer - that's a lot! But fear not! I filled some growlers and then my friend Bruce came to the rescue - with a keg and a CO2 bottle (he is an avid and very talented homebrewer). We filled the remaining 2-3 Gallons of Old Rasputin in his keg, and bottled the remaining Seeing Double in three 2-liter soda bottles and charged them with CO2. That'll keep the beer in good shape for a while, as we enjoy the occasional shortbus on tap at home.