Tag Archives: Firestone Walker

Musings On Aging Beers

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I am just going to touch on this subject today but do plan on coming back to it in the future. I have recently started opening up my beer cellar, which consists mostly of barley wines and imperial stouts. So far, in the past year or so, I have tried about 40 vintage beers. The only one I have found a noticeable flaw in was an 09 Stone Old Guardian in February 2012. This was in no way Stone’s fault and likely due to poor storage (which could be a variety of things, the beer may have had a rough trip back from Florida, the closet was certainly not at the ideal temperature and from what I have heard, sometimes this stuff just happens). Either way, the beer tasted a lot like cardboard which would make sense as the beer was fairly light in color and probably developed a significant amount of aldehyde. Fortunately, everything other vintage beer I have tried turned out much as I suspected. I noticed a particularly large difference between years in Lagunitas products such as Old Gnarlywine. These aged barley wines were good but in every case including a side by side of Firestone Walker’s Abacus and Sucaba, I preferred the fresh version. Perhaps, I am just not a huge fan of the sherry like flavors that tend to develop with them. With that said, I have had some phenomenal aged imperial stouts such as Bell’s Expedition Stout that blew me away after sitting a few years. I have also had some extremely pleasant experiences with aged sour browns such a four year old New Belgium La Folie. Ultimately, I am leaning towards drinking beers fresh, but vintage beers can be a nice treat. I have also heard that Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg’s Samichlaus has legendary aging capabilities. Here is a slightly more in depth look at some of the basic chemical processes that tend to go with aging of beer http://www.professorbeer.com/articles/oxidative_staling_beer.html

Now that you know what to expect, experiment and enjoy! Please add any thoughts and I do plan on returning to this subject as I learn more!

Springfield, Missouri 2011 State of Beer Review

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2011 has been an excellent year for beer in Springfield. I could make this article very long and still fail to mention many important Ozark beer developments. Do not worry, I have no interest in boring anyone with such things. I am merely gonna mention some of the largest beer related events of 2011 in the region.

By far the largest and most exciting development in the area was the introduction of Mother’s Brewing Company. Mother’s started out last spring and has, so far impressed me tremendously. They have a beautiful facility in downtown Springfield. On top of the aesthetics, they are making some great beer and charging very reasonable prices. I expect a lot of great things from them in 2012. Another brewery that deserves mention is Horseshoe Bend Brewing Company near the Lake of the Ozarks. Horseshoe bend has just completed a “croudsourcing” fundraising campaign in order to facilitate more production. I have not had their beer and do not suspect it will make it to Springfield in the near future, but am very glad to see their enthusiasm and desire to create good beer for the Ozarks. I wish them the best of luck in the future. I can not fail to mention that the Springfield Brewing Company recently changed ownership. Their brew master is now the owner and I see great things coming out of this. I was recently given a bottle of the Full Nelson, which is a Nelson Sauvin wheat wine and I was very impressed.

This year has also been a good year for both on and off premise beer consumption in Springfield. In 2011, Missouri saw the introduction of Green Flash Brewing Company and Stone Brewing Company which are both excellent breweries from San Diego. Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Nectar Ales, (which is one of my favorite breweries) from Paso Robles California, entered the Missouri market last spring as well. Very recently an excellent new brewery out of St. Louis, Perennial Artisan Ales, arrived on Springfield shelves. While those are certainly not all of the beers new to Missouri, in 2011, they some of the most acclaimed. With the introduction of those five breweries, Missouri’s already strong portfolio of available beers improved dramatically. Deschutes Brewery is supposed to come to Missouri early in 2012 and can not wait to see what else!

The selection on store shelves has greatly improved in 2011. I have also noticed a drastically improved tap selection at many bars. The Brown Derby Craft Beer Fest and Oktoberfest both went on and expanded in 2011. The Springfield Food and Wine Celebration added beer in 2011. Beer dinners and sit down tastings have been on the rise. The beer community in general is growing. Overall 2011 has been an excellent year for beer in Springfield and 2012 looks to be even better. Keep up the great work Springfield!

My Favorite Beers of 2011

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I know this list is entirely subjective. Sadly, there were many new beers that deserve to make this list that I was not fortunate enough to try and many that I simply forgot (it has been a very eventful year). Still 2011 was an excellent year for beer in my world and these are some of my favorites. Hopefully, 2012 has some tricks to compete! The list is in no particular order and I am trying to focus on beers that were new to 2011 (or at least new to bottles, if I am mistaken on some, I apologize), so classics such as Bell’s Hopslam and Chimay Grand Reserve are excluded.

1) Anchorage Brewing Company: Bitter Monk with a description like this “Belgian style double IPA with Brettanomyces. this ale is aged in french oak chardonnay barrels. Brewed with Apollo, Citra, and Simcoe hops. Dry hopped in the barrel with Citra hops. Triple fermented- First in the tank with a Belgian yeast, second in french oak chardonnay barrels with brett, and finally in the bottle with a third yeast for natural carbonation.” how can it be bad? The complex, funky taste lived up to the hype.

2) Mikkeller: Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin Brut This is the perfect beer to drink on New Years or anytime for that matter. It is truly fantastic, lots of funk, a little white wine and citrous, just fantastic. It is expensive for a beer, but $20 is still cheap compared to a good champagne.

3) Jolly Pumpkin: Lupulo De Hielo This Michael Jackson’s Rare Beer Club exclusive is one of many reason I will continue to utilize that excellent service. This beer is crisp, funky and complex. Like many of Jolly Pumpkin’s offerings, world class all the way.

4) Boulevard: Collaboration No. 2 – White IPA This beer was the result of a collaboration with Deschutes Brewery. This beer retains some of the lightness and spice of a wit yet boasts some strong citrousy hops. In three words, it is beautiful.

5) New Belgium: Le Terroir Released for the first time in bottles this spring. This beer is astonishingly refreshing, tart and fruity.

6) Firestone Walker: Firestone 15-Aniversary Ale I am not sure where to begin on this one, this is an extremely complex blend of amazing beers. There are layers upon layers of delicious flavors, including toffee, bourbon, coffee, dark fruits and the list goes on.

7) Lagunitas: Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale Do not let the clever, self depreciating name fool you. This American double IPA is astounding. It contains about everything I could ever hope for from an IPA and I have all but forgotten about Brown Shugga. I can not wait for “Leftovers”.

8 ) Founders: Canadian Breakfast Stout Bottled for the first time in 2011. This maple barrel aged version of the already stellar Kentucky Breakfast Stout is a real treat, if you can find it.

9) Avery: Rumpkin This beer is huge clocking in at 15.9%. It is also very sweet and boozy, but unique, complex and delicious.

10) Firestone Walker: 2011 Abacus I have not had previous incarnations of the Abacus, but this English Style barley wine is one of my favorite beers of all time. The 2011 Abacus is decadent, smooth and so complex it is perfect for long contemplation.

A few very unique honorable mentions include, Rogue Bacon Maple Ale, Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Life and Limb, Odell Friek and New Belgium Kick.

Black IPA’s, Fad or Future Staple?

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I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Black IPA is the fad beer style of the year. I am also going to predict that Black IPAs are here to stay. This year they seem to be coming out of every direction as some kind of special release or anniversary ale. Just the other day, I tried a Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet, which was a pretty bold beer for the time of night that I drank it, but still very good. Odell has recently re-released their Mountain Standard Double Black IPA in four pack bottles. Stone’s Anniversary Ale was an imperial black IPA. Grand Teton made a black IPA this year. Firestone Walker is soon to release the Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA. That is just a few of the more prominent ones to reach the great state of Missouri (sadly, Clown Shoes does not distribute in Missouri, I was fortunate enough to enjoy that with help from a friend). This is certainly not a bad thing, I just find it interesting how quickly the style is gaining popularity. I think the fad will turn into a long standing and legitimate style, there are simply too many highly respected breweries making them to discount as a mere fad. While more seem to come up everyday, the style is not particularly new either, Stone has been crafting the Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale for some time and Southern Tier has also produced Iniquity for several years. Regardless of their “vogue status”, they are tasty beers. So, if you like hops with a distinct toast character added on, check out a Black IPA, a decent one should not be difficult to find. My two favorites so far are still the Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale and the Odell Mountain Standard Double Black IPA. Feel free to comment on whether or not you agree as well as favorite Black IPAs.

*** corrected on 11/22/11*** I have edited this post as I originally mentioned a black IPA that apparently does not exist. I did have a black IPA on tap at a local bar in Springfield, Missouri. Unfortunately, whatever I had was not produced by Left Hand as I originally thought, they do not make a black IPA. I am terribly sorry for my mistake and hope that anyone who read this will forgive me. I have no idea what beer I was thinking of, I distinctly remember it having the word toasted in the name, but can find absolutely nothing to prove this. So, for now, I will just sit here in shame and scratch my head. Have a good night.