I’ve had a few of the Anderson Valley Brewing beers in the past, most notably their Solstice varieties, and have never been disappointed. Craving something dark and full while at a local shop the other day, I spied this bottle of the company’s Deep Enders Dark Porter. Having never had this particular product, I snatched one up quickly.

While it’s not as full as I was initially craving, Deep Enders still proved to be a flavorful porter that treated me just right while grilling the other night.

Appearance

They certainly got the “Dark” part of the beer’s name right. This porter pours a very dark brown with a deep garnet edge. The light brown cap of foam faded slowly to a patchy lacing.

Aroma

Smells like a porter to me. Dark, roasty malts, a bit of black coffee, subtle chocolates and a welcome hop presence round out the nose on this beer nicely.

Taste

I found this one to be quite smooth with a great roasted malt character. To accompany the roast notes, there’s some black coffee, as well. A slight dark chocolate component comes out more toward the lingering finish that also carries a slight hop bitterness as a nice counter to the sweetness of the brew.

Overall

Not a bad brew. It’s got a deep and full flavor while still remaining quite easy to drink. I love the roasted nature of the malts and the fairly smooth mouthfeel. I could drink this one any time of year.

Rating: 3.5/5

San Diego, CA – September 1, 2010- Karl Strauss Oktoberfest is back! The company’s original award winning seasonal beer is a reminder to Southern Californian’s that fall is just around the corner. “We brew Oktoberfest as a tribute to Karl’s heritage and as a toast to the world’s largest beer party in Munich,” says Paul Segura, Karl Strauss Brewmaster. “This beer has a ton of rich, malty flavor, but it’s smooth enough to be enjoyed by the liter.”

Unlike most beers that begin with base malt and add specialty malts for flavor, Karl Strauss Oktoberfest is made from 100% specialty malts. A flavorful blend of Vienna, Munich, and Carahell malts create a toasty, nutty flavor that is characteristic of the style. To balance out the sweetness from the malts, the brewers stayed true to tradition using imported Hallertau Perle hops for a spicy finish.

After cold fermenting for several weeks, the golden hued lager is cellared at 50-degrees for an additional three weeks, creating an incredibly smooth finish. Weighing in at 5% ABV, this exceptional session lager is a great complement to traditional Oktoberfest fare, including grilled meats, burgers, and of course, sausages.

Due to an increase in demand, the Company will be brewing 33% more Oktoberfest than last year. Karl Strauss Oktoberfest is available in six-packs and on draft across southern California. Whether you’re rocking lederhosen at the bar or celebrating with friends, enjoy this beer while you can because this party only happens once a year. Prost.

Specs:
5.0 % ABV
15 SRM
20 IBU

Ingredients:
Malts: Vienna, Munich, Carahell
Hops: Hallertau Perle
Yeast: South German Lager

Label Copy:
We brew Oktoberfest in tribute to the world’s biggest beer party. Vienna and Munich malts produce the deep golden color, nutty undertones, and toasted malt flavors characteristic of this renowned Bavarian beer style. Perle hops imported directly from the Hallertau region of Germany give the beer a smooth balanced finish. This celebratory lager puts the ‘fest’ in the month of October.

I probably shouldn’t have picked up this bottle of Uerige Doppelsticke a couple of weeks ago. My hands were already full of some tasty brews when I spied that unique bottle out the corner of my eye.

Like Homer Simpson spying a poofy dog or something shiny, I couldn’t help myself. I mean, seriously, look at that bottle. It’s cool.

Luckily for me, this Altbier (brewed for the U.S. market) is more than just contained in a slick looking piece of glass — the murky liquid inside turned out to be a late evening treat for my wife and I. Its deep malty character and dark fruits were just what we both were in the mood for.

Appearance

Doppelsticke pours a copperish brown in color with a light tan head that faded fairly quickly to a few small, random islands of foam.

Aroma

Sweet, toasted malts mingles wonderfully with dark fruits (raisin, fig) while an herbal component arrives late. I’m not sure if it’s from the hops, but the herbal character is quite nice. The 8.5% ABV leaves a lasting tingle on the nose.

Taste

Wow. This is an over-the-top brew with an excellent roasted malt base. The dark fruits combine with the sweet malts perfectly as the beer moves along to a subtle hop bitterness on the finish that balances out the initial sweetness well. The beer is smooth on the palate with a decent bit of heat from the higher alcohol content. I don’t recall (and don’t have anything in my notes) whether the herbal notes in the aroma made an appearance in the taste, but there was a bit of a yeastiness to the beer that was a nice addition.

Overall

I’m pretty sure that both of our glasses were drained of this beer rather quickly. Not that we swilled it down, but it certainly didn’t last as long as we both would have liked. The dark fruits, malt and hop components come together in a smooth and tasty package.

Oh yeah, the bottle is kind of cool, as well.

Rating: 4/5

St. Bernardus is a name that’s pretty comfortable in my household. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve had the St. Bernardus Tripel and Abt 12 in recent years. They just seem to be those beers that I am able to find on a regular basis. The brewery’s Prior 8, however, is one that I rarely, if ever, see on shelves.

I’m not entirely sure when I picked up this smaller 33cl bottle of the brewery’s 8% ABV Dubbel, but I do know that it wasn’t waiting long for me to pluck it from the cellar. I’ve had a few bottles of this style, most recently a Maredsous 8 at an Ommegang/Duvel tasting last week, and it’s quickly becoming more of a favorite than the higher potency Tripels I love so much. With a fuller body and deeper, more rich palate this particular Dubbel trumped the its bigger brother, making me wish I had a larger bottle on hand.

Appearance

Prior 8 pours a chestnut brown in color with a one finger off-white head.

Aroma

I could smell this beer all day long. Bready malts with a load of dark fruit waft into the nose with each sniff. The immediate impression I got from the aroma on this beer is that of a freshly opened box of Raisin Bran cereal. The touch of candied sugar and a hint of spice add to the dark fruit/raisin component to create a wonderfully smelling brew.

Taste

Wow, this is a deep beer. Lots of dark fruit and bready malt fill the mouth as the sweetness and subtle yeastiness come in shortly after the initial flavors subside. The brew transitions from the sweetness to a slightly bitter hop finish that lingers nicely. I was surprised by the mouthfeel that seemed to move from crisp to relatively smooth with each sip.

Overall

Again, the Dubbel is slowly beating up on the Tripel in my home. Perhaps it’s that Summer is quickly disappearing and I’m looking forward to the cooler months ahead, but the more full bodied, rich style has been treating me just right lately. I think next time I’ll need to do a side-by-side tasting of the Prior 8 and it’s bigger brothers to see how it truly stacks up.

Rating: 4/5

I’ve had a couple of The Dark Beer Specialist’s products in the past — most recently their Rabid Duck Russian Imperial Stout — so I knew I’d be getting a well crafted black lager with their Schwarzbier.

I love this style of brew because it gives you a more robust, full flavor without the heavier weight of a porter or stout. And as much as I do love myself a big, chewy stout, sometimes you just want something a little lighter. Duck-Rabbit’s Schwarzbier was just what I needed this past weekend.

Appearance

Pouring a dark brown in color, the beer was capped with a light mocha head that faded slowly to a thin ring.

Aroma

The nose on the beer has plenty of roasty malts with a touch of black coffee. There’s also a hint of chocolate in there, but it takes a back seat to the slightly smoky roast.

Taste

That roasted malt from the nose dominates the palate along with the espresso-like black coffee character. The beer starts off smooth, peaks and ends with a quickly disappearing finish. There’s not much of a hop presence in the beer, so it’s all roasty malt, all the time — which worked out perfectly since that’s what I was in the mood for. It’s got a crisp lager mouthfeel, yet has a smooth edge due to the coffee and chocolate components present.

Overall

Duck-Rabbit has themselves a super drinkable lager in their Schwarzbier that’s got a great malt roastiness. Add in the coffee and chocolate traits and you’ve got yourself a smooth tasting brew that I need to find more of for the cooler Autumn months ahead.

Rating: 3.5/5

There’s nothing like taking a couple of days off for a much needed long weekend. There’s also nothing better than starting that time off with a beer and food pairing at Capital Alehouse in Fredericksburg.

The event entitled “Belgium Comes to Fredericksburg” went off without a hitch, combining some tasty Belgian beers on tap with wonderfully prepared hors d’oeuvres by executive chef Rebecca Jordan. The presentation was presided over by Duvel/Ommegang representative Steve Cardello who was knowledgeable and engaging — willing to sit down for a few minutes and talk beer history, culture and the future of the Moortgat owned products.

The beers featured on tap included mostly Duvel Moortgat products with the exception of Chimay’s Tripel (Chimay Red). The Bruery’s Tradewinds was also supposed to be available for the occasion, but complications in its delivery kept it out. It was faithfully replaced with d’Achouffe’s strong Pale Ale, La Chouffe.

My father-in-law and I showed up a bit early, but with more than a few dozen beers on tap available, we were not going to complain. While we waited for the crew to wrap up their own tasting and preparations, we sat down at the bar with a glass of New Holland’s Beehive Tripel. Brewed with wildflower honey, the tripel was pretty tasty with a delicate sweetness and only made us that much more excited to get to the brews lined up for the tasting.

Speaking of those beers. Lined-up for the event were (in order of presentation, I think): Ommegang Witte, Ommegang Hennepin, Maredsous 10, Chimay Tripel, La Chouffe, Ommegang Zuur, Houblon Chouffe, and Maredsous 8. Of the eight beers available, I have had all but the Zuur before, but none on draft. I was probably the most excited about the Houblon Chouffe, a tasty combination of Belgian tripel and double IPA.

We had a chance to speak with Steve Cardello (the Duvel rep) while the rest of the guests filed in. It sounds as though the next full-time release from Ommegang will be their Belgian Pale Ale which is currently in test markets. I also learned that due to the expense and complexity of aging the brewery’s Ommegeddon and newly released Zuur, they will most likely never been brewed again and are one-time offerings.

Finally, after a few short rounds of introductions the tasting began with warm brie served over Maredsous marinated blackberries and a mixed tapas plate with spiced macadamia nuts and locally made sausage. Served with these items were the first two rounds of beer: Witte, Hennepin, Maredsous 10, and Chimay. Again, I forgot to take notes, so my memory of the exact beer order is a bit foggy. The first two rounds were excellent with the Hennepin and Maredsous 10 serving as the standouts for me.

Round three would prove to be an interesting combination with the La Chouffe and Zuur paired with an incredibly smoked salmon. The salmon was smoked for 14 hours and then drenched in honey to give it a honey baked ham like character. It was wonderful. The rarest beer of the bunch, the Ommegang Zuur, was a tasty, slightly funky, sour and tart cherry brew that also paired nicely with Beemster Cheese that was available. Being that this would probably be the one and only time to have this beer on draft, or ever for that matter, we ended up having another glass of it at the bar after the event had ended.

The rotation of food remained the same but were paired individually with each beer quite well. I don’t think I had a single complaint about any of the food or the actual pairings themselves. Granted, I was mostly there to sample some of my favorite beer on draft.

Both my father-in-law and I felt the Zuur would have been the perfect beer to end on. That said, the final round of samples proved to do a nice job of both cleansing the palate of the residual tartness and sourness and also to end the pairing quite well. The Houblon Chouffe, a personal highlight, proved to be more than adequate to follow up the Zuur. The hoppy tripel was refreshing and exactly what I was looking forward to.

We ended the event with Steve’s own personal craft beer epiphany — the Maredsous 8. Much like a St. Bernardus Prior 8 I had the other day did, this “8″ out-shined the higher ABV big brother, the “10.” It was rich and sweet with loads of dark fruits and an excellent lingering finish. Even though this last round proved out nicely, we still felt it necessary to end the event on the Zuur. So that’s what we did — head back up stairs to the bar and enjoyed this rare brew one last time before heading on home.

All-in-all, Capital Alehouse did a wonderful job pairing some very tasty food (I need to get some more of that sausage and smoked salmon) with some personal favorites of the beer world. I’m also thrilled to have had a chance to taste one of three or four kegs of Zuur that had been sent to the Virginia area.

Thanks to all the fine folks at Capital Alehouse (Mr. X included) for providing the opportunity to sample some truly wonderful food and beer.

I also hope they have a couple dozen close friends to finish off what’s left in those bottles.

Sometimes, even after a 90 plus degree day, you’ve just got to have a barleywine — something to slowly sip on as you relax with a book or in front of the TV. I’ve only had this bottle of Old Ruffian for a couple of months, but it’s got a Dec 2009 bottled date stamped on the side.

I’ve enjoyed a couple of Great Divide’s beers in the past and have a couple of Espresso Oak Aged Yetis in the basement for the fall, so I was really looking forward to the company’s barleywine. I’d heard some pretty good things about it.

As it turns out, those folks were right. This is a tasty brew.

Appearance

Old Ruffian pours a copperish red in color. The orange tinted, off-white head stared off thick and full, fading slowly to a thin lacing.

Aroma

This thing smells wonderful. Nicely toasted malts fill the nose along with a floral hop presence (that also brings a bit of bitterness). There’s a sweet and fruity character to the beer not unlike candied apple. The 10.2% ABV is definitely noticeable within the aroma.

Taste

I love the amount of hops that are in this beer. They’re not as aggressive as Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot, but they do make their presence known with a decent bite of astringent bitterness after you’re initially greeted with a moderate malt sweetness. The apple from the nose are there as is a touch of citrus from those hops. The mouthfeel is fairly slick and medium bodied leading into a pretty dry, lingering finish. The higher ABV isn’t really “hot,” but it’s unmistakable in its presence.

Overall

A good part of me is kicking myself for not having the patience to let this one sit until the cooler Fall months. The other part could really care less about the first part. Old Ruffian is a tasty, fairly aggressive barleywine that is warming and full flavored. It’s not wonder it’s an award winner.

Rating: 4.5/5