BUMP TIME
This past weekend was the close of NY Beer Week. Saturday I went into town in the afternoon to check out a well regarded bar called the Blind Tiger Alehouse. Very cool (albeit cramped) place with a very good tap list. I started with a Bear Republic Ryevalry. It's an American Imperial IPA fermented with a Belgian yeast strain and containing a decent amount of rye in the grain bill. There was a lot going on, but the brewers at Bear Republic juggled it all very well. Afterwards I went with Sixpoint's Pumpkin Ale since I had a coupon for a Sixpoint beer for $3 at Blind Tiger and that was the only one they had on tap. Worst. Pumpkin beer. Ever. Seriously, no pumpkin at all, it was just a mouthfull of liquid ginger with a dash of pepper. Then it was on to the Voyage of the IPA; some of you saw the picture I posted in the picture thread of me with Garrett Oliver. It was a cool time, as we had perfect weather, but I was disappointed that the IPA discussion only lasted about ten minutes, I was just expecting a bit more in terms of that. That also left an hour and fifty minutes for everyone to hang out with their friends and talk, but since I went by myself that didn't work out as well
I started the trip off with a Brooklyn Blast in one hand and a Brooklyn Detonation in the other. That's right, I was double fisting double IPAs, I'm just a badass like that
I wanted to do the side by side comparison since Detonation (the current Brewmaster's Reserve) is described as Blast's (year round draft only DIPA) bigger brother. Pretty apt description, as Detonation came across as bigger and more flavorful, but with a lot of the same characteristics. I can say pretty confidently that if either of them was bottled it would probably be the best American IIPA on the East Coast. I had a Captain Lawrence Captain's Reserve imperial IPA and a Brooklyn East India Pale Ale afterwards, but those were just to pass the time and get my money's worth
I did get to speak one on one with Garrett towards the end, which was very cool. I was asking him about timing hop additions when it comes to creating beer recipes.
Sunday I went back into the city to one of my favorite bars, the Rattle n Hum for a Stone Tap Takeover event. The bar would be pouring 40 Stone beers on tap, including many rare beers and alternate versions of regular beers. I planned on spending a good chunk of Sunday there, eating and drinking, but between the crazy over crowding and terrible service I got (a whole rant to itself), I ended up leaving after 3 beers. First was their 9th anniversary beer (for reference, this year they released their 14th anniversary beer). It started out I believe as a big hoppy american wheat ale, but I think it's a bit past its prime at this point. Next was Stone's 2007 Vertical Epic that had been aged in red wine barrels. Holy shit what a great beer. The 07 VE was roughly a Belgian Strong Pale Ale that was bombed with a believe orange and lemon zest to create a very citrusy flavor. 3 years later the beer is still very citrusy, and it worked well with the fruitiness contributed by the barrel aging. I closed it out with Stone's 2010 Belgo Barleywine, their Old Guardian Barleywine fermented with a Belgian yeast strain. I've had this beer before, but it really never gets old. It's big and sweet and has this great bubblegum flavor from the yeast, and it's still plenty hoppy too. Stone's starting an "Odd Beers in Odd Years" program where starting next year, every other year the version they release of their Old Guardian Barleywine and Imperial Russian Stout will be tweaked/different somehow, and if this Belgo Barleywine isn't bottled as next year's version I'm going to be very upset
Those two beers (07 VE in red wine barrels and 2010 Belgo Barleywine) are probably now my two favorite Stone brews, so having them back to back was very cool.
I was a bit bummed with my experience at the event overall though Sunday, so when I heard that RnH was keeping all the Stone beers on tap until they were gone, and they still had just about everything as of Monday night, I decided I would go again for lunch on Tuesday. I got there at noon, I think I was the first customer of the day, and settled in for a few hours of drinking. Quick aside: this place serves possibly the best burger I've ever had, thanks in part to serving it with a beer, bacon, and shallot reduction. Anyway, I started with a collaboration beer they did with I believe Ballast Point Brewery out in San Diego with them and a well known San Diego Homebrewer. The idea was basically a super hopped session ale(less than 4.5%, though some people will say the threshold is actually 4%). Bad idea, nowhere near enough malt sweetness to balance out the hops and the result was that it was basically like drinking a pint of hop juice
Next I had to go back to the 07 VE, I just loved the beer that much. Next was a special version of Stone's RIS. 2010 is their tenth year of making the beer, so they did some special mixes for this year of various vintages. One blend was called the GK (Greg Koch, Stone founder) Madman Mix. In addition to blending various Stone IRS vintages he added some sage and chipotles (and possibly some other Stone beers, though I'm not sure on that part). It sounds weird, but god damn did it come together nicely. I closed out the afternoon with a 2004 Old Guardian, which while nice and malty, had a surprising amount of hoppiness left for a six year old beer.
Other than that just been drinking some random stuff this week. Had another New Belgium 1554 (very cool) and a Rogue RIS (not so much). I had a Brooklyn East India Pale Ale earlier tonight, which is decent for what it's trying to be, and am working on a Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre as I type. Thinking about how bottling my hoppy brown ale tomorrow is going to work
Topic: The Beer Thread: Mach 2 (Read 99982 times)
