So I was planning on heading up to PA on the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and my friend lives, literally, around the corner from Victory Brewing Co. in Downingtown. I texted him on Monday to see if he wanted to get dinner or something and the same day, my future brother-in-law (FBIL) texts me asks what I am doing on Wednesday. I tell him I am thinking of going to Victory. He then mentions something called "Dark Wednesday" and tells me to look it up. If it has to do with Victory, of course I am in. In case you hadn't heard, Victory had themselves a little limited-edition beer release on November 23. The beer is Dark Intrigue and I'll just let you read the label to see for yourself what it is:
Intrigued yet? Victory brewed this beer a few years back for the first time when they decided to age some of their Storm King Stout in bourbon barrels for a few months. It's back by popular demand now, but they stated that this is the last time they will ever brew this beer. The only way to guarantee yourself any of this was to go to the brewery for the release. So my FBIL, my wife, and I headed down there at 9 am on the 23rd for the 11:30 am release. They had food, coffee, and prizes that they were giving away (although we didn't win any). There were about 100 people there when we got there but by the time they opened the doors, that number had swelled to over 300. They started telling people that they could only guarantee the first 300 people, although it looked like everyone that wanted some got some.
My FBIL Steve (left) and me at Victory
We waited an additional hour in line just to get into the shop to buy the beer and we ended up getting a case and splitting it four ways. Luckily for us, one of our friends only wanted two bottles, so we ended up drinking one a couple nights later (more on that below). We then had lunch at the brewpub and were able to snag a couple Dark Intrigue tasters on tap. All I can say is, holy crap. I feel like you have to like bourbon to like this beer. When we had it on tap, there was a dominant bourbon character to it throughout. I am personally a fan of bourbon so I was a huge fan of this beer. I also got to try their Otto, which is a new and not very easy to find smoked Belgian Dubbel. It's super good and if you can find it, I highly recommend it. As I mentioned, we ended up drinking about bottle of the Dark Intrigue later that weekend. I hate to say that I was disappointed, but I kinda was. Something about the bottling process caused it to lose a lot of bourbon flavor and made it taste much more ordinary. Don't get me wrong, it's still a damn fine beer but I was expecting to taste that full bourbon body throughout. Instead, it tasted like there was something missing, a sentiment that my friend Alex also shared. However, I have three bottles aging so we'll see how the flavor changes after some time in the dark.
Anyway, my weekend wasn't finished yet. Wednesday night I ended up going out with some friends from home to a small bar in my small hometown of Boyertown, PA called Congo Hotel, or Union Jack's as some refer to it. I had heard of it before and of their nice beer selection but it was my first time there. That's when I saw it... a flyer advertising their Saturday event, the 2nd annual Hopsgiving. It was a special beer event they were holding with numerous rare or hard-to-find beer, including one of my holy grails, Russian River's Pliny the Elder. This beer is rarely found in the wild and is normally only on tap in Russian River's tap room. So of course I was in. The closest thing I can compare it to is Troeg's Nugget Nectar, which very well might be my favorite beer of all-time. It's very hoppy with fruity notes and a smooth, crisp finish. However, I only had one glass of it because another beer stole the show for me.
That beer was Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA. I had tried one of Ballast's beer, which for the life of me I can't remember now, but this was my first time trying the Sculpin. And it was absolutely outstanding. It is fresh and hoppy, with lots of fruity notes disguising the 70 IBUs. This was probably my favorite beer of the day. Anyway, they were offering two different flights and of course I had to try both of them. The first consisted of Golden Flash's West Coast IPA, Port's Mongo IIPA, Sculpin, Firestone Walker Double Jack, and Great Divide Fresh Hop Ale. My favorites here were the Sculpin and the Double Jack, but all these beers are solid. The Double Jack had notes of grapefruit and tangerine up front but a nice smooth finish for a beer that checks in at 9.5%. Honorary mention goes to the Mongo. It has similar characteristics to the Sculpin and Double Jack in that it's hoppy with fruity undertones.
The second flight consisted of Ithaca Flower Power, Port High Tide, Green Flash Imperial IPA, Coronado Idiot IPA, and Prism Felony Double IPA. Let me just say... the first flight was better. However, there were some good beers here, most notably the Flower Power. There is a definite flowery taste to it and has a smooth finish. It's very earthy. I told my cousin that it tastes like eating dirt if dirt tasted good. The High Tide was also decent, although not distinguishable. It was a solid IPA with a smooth hoppy character throughout. The Green Flash was very hoppy with sharp notes depicting Simcoe and possibly Cascade. The Prism was the consensus worst among most people at the bar and everyone was waiting for it to kick so that the bartender could tap the keg of Dogfish Burton Baton (it didn't happen). The Felony features 10 hop varieties, over 100 IBUs, 10% ABV, and it depicts what can go wrong when you try to do too much. I personally didn't think it was terrible, but my buddy Alex couldn't even finish his taster. I had a decision to make after that second flight. I had one beer left in me. Would I choose the Pliny, my holy grail, or the surprising Sculpin?
I went with the Sculpin, which should be high praise for it. I had the pleasure of having this in a bottle about a week later and, like the Dark Intrigue, was disappointed. All that tasty fruitiness from the hops disappeared when I had it out of the bottle and it was rendered as an almost generic west coast IPA. That's not to say that it was bad, but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Anyway, I headed to my in-laws' house afterward and my FBIL and I ended the night with a vertical tasting of Victory's Golden Monkey and Weyerbacher's Merry Monks. I have to say, this wasn't even a fair comparison. Despite both being classified as Belgian Abbey-style ales, the Golden Monkey simply can't hold a candle to some of the better Belgians on the market. Merry Monks won in a landslide. I also got the opportunity to try the limited release Ommegang Gnomegang, which is similar in style to the Merry Monks. I believe it is only sold in a three pack with Hennepin, Three Philosopher's and an Ommegang etched glass. It's worth it though because, let's face it, you were going to buy that Three Philosopher's anyway.
In addition, I also got to try a couple Dogfish beers I hadn't had before. I'll mention Chicory Stout first even though I've already had it. It's been a year-round beer at the brewpubs this year, but it's out in bottles for the winter and if you like coffee beers, go out and get some. You won't regret it. It's probably one of the best coffee beers I have had. Next up is their special release, Faithfull Ale, paying tribute to Pearl's Jam's 20th anniversary of their debut record "Ten". It's a fruit-forward Belgian-style beer with lots of currants. Compared to other Dogfish limited edition releases, this one was disappointing. There wasn't really a defining characteristic of it and I was left wanting a lot more. Speaking of limited edition releases, I was also able to snag a couple bottles of Dogfish's new batch of Bitches Brew. I've mentioned on here before. If you happen upon it, you should probably pick some up. My wife was also able to spot a few bottles of the collaboration that Dogfish did with The Bruery in support of the Japan relief efforts. The best I can describe it is a blonde with ingredients such as nori (Japanese edible seaweed), chili peppers, sesame seeds, and kumquats and fermented with sake yeast. Solid, but not spectacular. The final two I tried recently are two seasonals, Fort and Immort. The Fort is a high-gravity ale brewed with a ton of raspberries (literally, a ton). It checks in at a hefty 18% and is not recommended if you are planning on driving (I wasn't). I personally really enjoyed this beer but it is very heavy and fruity so it's not for everyone's taste. I decided to drink one and age one, so we'll see how that goes. Finally, Immort. It's classified as an American Strong Ale. At 11% it packs a punch. They use maple syrup from Sam's family's farm in Western Massachusetts, peat-smoked barley, juniper berries and vanilla. It is fermented with a blend of English and Belgian yeasts, then aged in giant oak barrels. For me, this beer is on par with my favorite Dogfish beer, Burton Baton. It is similar in flavor, but you get more of the oakiness (?) coming through in the Immort. I currently have two of these aging as well, so we'll see how the flavor evolves as it ages.
Finally, I have a homebrew that I bottled about two weeks ago. I attempted a clone recipe of Dogfish's Raison d'Etre. And I think I failed miserably. Sure, it's drinkable. I'm just not sure who would want to drink it over Raison. There are some characteristics of Raison in it, but there are also some off-flavors that come through and affect the finish. I have been having issues with off-flavors in my homebrews and I think it is related to the amount of yeast that I use. I am hitting my target gravities within an acceptable efficiency range, but I think my yeast amounts are throwing in off-flavors. I read a recent article in Zymurgy regarding this. They did a blind taste test of two of the same beers with different amounts of yeast (one had the recommended amount, the other, not enough). Both were on the target gravities and ABV, but almost all of the blind taste testers preferred the one that used the recommended amount of yeast. This was an extremely interesting article for me to read because this is the main problem I have been having with my beers. Time to break out Jamil's yeast calculator for my next batch. I think I am going to try my Nugget Nectar clone again since it's that time of year again. I want to get it down pat and do a vertical tasting to compare.
Anyway, that's all for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment