A Local Flavor...Flat 12 Amber Ale

I had an intern at St. Vincent a couple years ago who told me of this local brewery that was just getting started.  She knew the head brewer, Rob, and she spoke very highly of his beers.  This was when I first heard about Flat 12.  At that time I was just starting to scratch the surface of craft beer and so I was eager to experience Flat 12, but wasn't able to find time to get down there.  My first trip to Flat 12 happened last September with my buddy Phil.  I had the chance to speak to Rob, and although he is a Red Wings fan, he is a pretty cool guy and really knows his beer.  A couple years later, Flat 12 Bierwerks is growing, flourishing, and putting out awesome beer after awesome beer.  I had the privilege of attending their anniversary party earlier this year and enjoyed some amazing rare brews that they celebrated.

Until recently, you could only go to the tasting room located downtown in Indianapolis and purchase growlers and enjoy pints.  Last week, however, bottles of two of their standard beers hit shelves in 6 packs. I chose to go with their Amber Ale, which is one of my favorite Ambers and if it's ever on tap in my area, I typically order it.  Now I have the chance to enjoy a bottle at home and for the purpose of todays blog I get to review it.  Here is what the folks at Rate Beer have to say about it.  Now, it's my turn:

Choose Your Vessel:  I went with the brewery pint glass.  Picked up the Flat 12 glass back in September in hopes that someday I could use it with a bottle of their beer.  I like the glass, but I would prefer one with their traditional winged 12 logo.  Nevertheless, the pint glass is a great choice for an amber such as this.

Let's also take a moment to comment on the bottle label.  There is a lot going on with this label.  I appreciate the drawings, the letters, and the whole "Hello My Name is Amber" Amber Ale portion.  It's quite comical and enjoyable to look at.  Impressive job with this one.  It's quite unique and sets itself apart from other labels.  Not quite as out there as artwork from Three Floyds, but it has its own identity and I really appreciate that.

The Pour: Deep Amber in color.  About a one finger head.  For some reason a bunch of carbonation swarmed the logo so my photo of the beer didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  Decent lacing throughout consumption, but not as impressive as other brews.  Ambers, however, aren't usually known for incredible lacing, so it's not really an issue here.  Really a nice looking Amber Ale as you can see in the photo below.

Aroma:  Sweet malt aroma, hints of toffee and caramel.  A touch of citrus hop aroma is noticeable here, but definitely a malt forward smell overwhelms the olfactory senses.  It's quite nice.

Taste:  The sweetness of an Amber is the first thing I pick up, but shortly after the palate is dominated by a really nice blend of hops and malt.  Makes this a hoppier amber than most.  Toffee, Caramel, slightly nutty with a nice citrus hop flavor.  Medium carbonation.  Nice bubbles.  Sweet throughout with a strong punch of hops.  The beer starts to finish sweet, but actually ends up bitter.  A nice and welcome change to the drinking process.

Overall:  Extremely drinkable Amber Ale.  This one, while not a traditional amber due to the increased presence of hops, is probably one of my favorite Amber Ales I've had.  Maybe not quite as good as Bells Amber, but it's in the discussion for sure.  I really like the complexity of it.  Typically when I hear "Amber Ale" I know this is going to be malty and sweet, but with some depth of flavor as well.  This one has those components, but the hop presence just adds to the depth of flavor and makes this one an Amber that all hopheads can get on board with.  

You can pick up the Amber Ale at many liquor stores throughout the area.  Go get some!  Cheers and Enjoy!!

Sharing Beer with Family

I had a rare opportunity last week to spend quality time with my immediate family.  My sister, Lori, and her husband, Evan, flew in from Steamboat Springs, Colorado for a few days.  My little sister, Libby, and my parents also came down for a great family weekend.  Lori and Evan also came bearing gifts for me :-)

Upon their arrival, we enjoyed a Three Floyds Apocalypse Cow before heading to the Indianapolis Indians game where many Sun King brews were also enjoyed amidst the 100 degree heat.  The Cow was an extremely nice and dangerous double with a creamy body you generally don't get from any IPA.  Definitely not normal, but in a very enjoyable way.

We started on Thursday with a trip to Three Floyds in Munster, Indiana.  Lori and Evan had never been there before.  I was able to grab a couple of cases of Zombie Dust!! Score!  We tried every Three Floyds beer they had on tap that day and none of it disappointed.  I particularly enjoyed Boubon Barrel Aged Robert the Bruce, 219 (a hoppy pale which is rumored to be a Gumballhead and Zombie Dust blend), and of course Zombie Dust.  Don't sleep on the food at Three Floyds either, their Duck Fat Popcorn was fan-freakin-tastic.  We had such a good time at Three Floyds, although some of the customer service there was less than desirable.  My sister wanted to buy a t-shirt and they were out of her size in the one she wanted.  She asked the guy about the one hanging up and he replied sarcastically "it's hanging up size".  Way to be Three Floyds....lol.

Friday we enjoyed several great bottles while I smoked pulled pork and Habanero Sausage Bombs.  If I remember correctly, we enjoyed Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout, Grand Teton Lost Continent, Odell/Thornbridge Pond Hopper, Founders Devil Dancer, Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown, and AleSmith Yule Smith Summer 2012 Double IPA.  Every one of these beers tasted incredible.  The Mountain Brown probably has the best nose of any beer I've ever had.  The Pond Hopper and Yule Smith were both fantastic.  Devil Dancer is a monster.  The surprise of the group was the Lost Continent.  We all really enjoyed this one with it's tropical and citrus hop flavors that were incredibly drinkable.  Of course, the Bourbon County Coffee was off the charts, although slightly disappointed that the coffee flavor had diminished significantly.  A great beer sampling indeed.

Saturday, while Evan napped, I was able to spend some QT with Lori.  We drove around to the Bier Brewery and Flat 12.  We wanted to hit Sun King but their tasting room was closed due to construction.  Lori was particularly bummed about that.  However, we sampled some local Indiana flavors and they did not disappoint.  I really enjoyed Bier's PDG Pale Ale and their Fustercluck IPA.  At Flat 12 I was really surprised at how much I loved the Kiwi Kiwi Hefe.  I am not a Hefe fan typically, but this one had enough tartness from the Kiwi to make it incredibly drinkable for me.  Also enjoyed Liquid Fiction, a session IPA with enough hop punch to make you think you were drinking a typical 6-7% IPA.  Job well done on this one Flat 12.  Of course, a trip to Flat 12 is not complete for me without grabbing a pint of Walkabout Pale Ale.  A Galaxy hopped Pale that is one of my favorite brews they produce.  Photo of my Walkabout:

Saturday night when Lori and Evan got home from dinner with some local friends, we cracked open the Goose Island Bramble Rye Bourbon County Stout.  Hands down the best beer we had all weekend.  Thick, rich, berries throughout.  Smooth.  Rye Whiskey notes came through nicely.  The beer had a port wine characteristic that reminding me a little bit of Dark Lord.  Lots of complexity, even a little tartness in there.  Definitely a winner.

Overall a fantastic beer weekend.  Loved sharing epic beers with family.  Just can't beat spending quality time with loved ones and sharing the nectar of the Gods.  What have you shared with your loved ones?

Dad, Lori, Nolan, and Evan

Beer Advocacy at its Finest

I signed up for my Beer Advocate account in October of 2011 as a means to try and just keep up with the fast pace of beer news and other interesting information regarding craft beer.  What I didn't know, is that I would end up meeting awesome people and making valuable connections in the world of craft beer.

If you have any interest in craft beer at all, you should take advantage of the fantastic resources Beer Advocate provides.  For example: My little sister was visiting Boston recently, and asked me if I knew of any good bottle shops she could visit to find some gems.  Of course, I have never visited Boston, and so I started a thread on Beer Advocate asking for suggestions and I also found this information while looking on the website.  Within 5 minutes of starting this search, I was able to provide my sister with valuable information that helped her to find some nice bottles to bring home.

Another perk is the people you get to know.  Internet forums can be intimidating, and don't judge me for using them :-)  However, I have met some great people using a DMB forum for DMB shows and DMB geekdom, and Beer Advocate is no different.  Some of you may know that I have an affinity for Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, and if anyone wants to buy me this I would be forever grateful.  Anyway, I was able to land several bottles of the regular Bourbon County Stout and one bottle of the Coffee variant, but completely struck out trying to land the Bramble Rye version, which is imperial stout aged in rye whiskey barrels with blackberries and raspberries, and probably my most coveted variant other than the beer you should buy me off of ebay :-)  Anyway, I mentioned in a thread on Beer Advocate that I had missed out on this bottle, and when I met one of the guys from Beer Advocate at a local beer tasting, he took me to his car and gave me a bottle of the Bramble Rye.  Now I can add it to my collection of Bourbon County Stouts.

 What a generous community.  I couldn't believe his generosity and am forever grateful.  To me this is what Beer Advocacy is all about.  Giving people the opportunity to try beers that they are interested in and/or may not have access to.  Sharing.  Being generous.  I've learned that hoarding beer is not optimal and you should share with those who value it.

Which brings me to the next step in Beer Advocacy.  The Bottle Share.  This past saturday I was extremely fortunate to be a part of an awesome bottle share at the Upland Tasting Room in Indianapolis.  Many thanks to the Upland Indy team for allowing us to bring in bottles and share.  Here is the lineup of what was sampled this day:

Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown:  The special release that hits Indianapolis on Thursday and Friday this week.  The same guy that gave me the Bramble brought this special treat he acquired.  It's delicious, the Hazelnut coffee in this brown ale is just incredibly delicious.  If you are lucky enough to get one, I recommend drinking it immediately to get the full coffee flavor experience.

Jackie O's Bourbon Barrell Dark Apparition

Jackie O's Vanilla Bean Rum Barrel Aged Dark Apparition

Both of these brews are extremely limited releases by Jackie O's.  Both were awesome, maybe slightly boozy, but still remarkable beers. 

 DFG IPA by the Bier Brewery
Russian River Consecration Batch 6
Jackie O's Oil of Aphrodite
Firestone Walker 15th anniversary ale
Firestone Walker 14th anniversary ale
Firestone Walker 13th anniversary ale
This was my first time doing a vertical tasting of beers at different stages of the beers life.  Was remarkably interesting.  The 15 and the 13 tasted similar to me, while the 14 may have been a bit different.  I preferred the 15th because it just tasted better to me, but really it was like splitting hairs.

Goose Island Pere Jacques 2007 (the second oldest beer I've ever had, was really good)
Goose Island Matilda 2010 (infected, which is a good thing to Beer Advocate members)
Boulevard Love Child #2
Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge
Jack's Abby Hoponius Union
Brouwerj 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze
and Two beers I brought to the table:
Upland Bourbon Barrel Bad Elmers Porter
Stone Ruination 10th Anniversary IPA.  Another beer that is filthy good and not available in Indiana.

Here is the Wall...all the beers that were consumed 

What I gained from this event was extremely humbling.  I find that among my friends, I tend to have more craft beer knowledge than a lot of them, and usually I am the one recommending beers to them.  On this day, I felt like I knew absolutely nothing about craft beer.  The people that I spent time with are so above my knowledge level it was shocking.  But the best part, aside from trying these awesome beers, was that they all welcomed me and were extremely enjoyable to be around.  They recognized that I have a passion for this and took time to explain things to me and helped me to further my understanding of the craft beer culture.  I am looking forward to learning more from these awesome Beer Advocate guys and hopefully doing these bottle shares on a regular basis.  

Cheers to Beer Advocate for bringing such amazing people with a common bond together to share their interests with each other.

The Beer Is Good

I want to draw your attention to my hometown, South Bend, Indiana for what seems to be a rare opportunity to try some special and amazing beers.  South Bend is not what I would normally consider to be a city that has a wealth of craft beer, but it is growing.  Granger has an excellent little craft brewery called Bare Hands and a little further away from South Bend you can find Iechyd Da, which I have heard is a fantastic spot that puts out really quality brews.  The Northern Indiana craft beer scene is really starting to blossom, which makes me extremely proud of my hometown region.

Probably my favorite bar in South Bend has always been Fiddlers Hearth.  It's a great little Irish Pub in the heart of downtown South Bend.  They usually have awesome music and a nice selection of craft beers in a non-smoking environment, which is not the norm for South Bend.

This coming Saturday, June 30th, Fiddlers is hosting an epic beer party called The Beer is Good.  The tap list isn't just good, it's phenomenal.  With special tappings of Founders KBS and Bells Black Note occurring at different times throughout the day, you could easily spend about 7 hours enjoying a fantastic beer selection.  The full list of beers and more event details can be found here.  But I am also going to go ahead and post the impressive beer list they are serving up, bolded are the beers I would definitely not want to miss:

Founders - KBS (11am)
Bell's - Black Note (6pm)
Stone - Verical Epic 11.11.11
Stone - Double Bastard
Four Horsemen - Porter
Four Horsemen - Citra American Wheat
New Belgium - Tart Lychee
Founders - Backwoods Bastard
Founders - Curmudgeon
Founders - Imperial Stout
3 Floyds - Tiger Jelly
3 Floyds - Ham on Rye
3 Floyds - Behemoth
3 Floyds - Al-Dabeyoun
3 Floyds - Blackheart
Bell's - Expedition Stout
Two Brothers - 2011 Bare Tree
Flat 12 - Mustache Ride
Flat 12 - Cuttlefish Cuvee
Flat 12- Haggard Joe, Whiskey barrel aged Joe Brahma 
Greenbush - Rage
Greenbush - Doomslayer
Greenbush - 1825 Steeped w/ MI Raspberries
Greenbush - Cabra Perdida
Southern Tier - Oak Aged Back Burner
He'Brew - Barrel-Aged Funky Jewbelation
He'Brew - Jewbelation Fifteen
New Holland - Night Tripper
Upland Teddy Bear Kisses
Boulevard - Collaboration #2 (w/ Deschutes)
Bare Hands - ThaIPA
Bare Hands - ThaIPA (Cask)


If you are in the South Bend area this weekend, I highly recommend attending this event.  If you do make it, pop over here and let me know how it goes.  Unfortunately I am not able to get away.  What beers on this list would you hope to try?


Cheers!!

An All Time Favorite

Quick love given to one of my all-time favorite beers. Three Floyd's Dreadnaught Imperial IPA. Intensely hopped, mango, peach, citrus and a massive malt backbone keep this complex brew incredibly balanced, smooth, and dangerous. One of my all-time favorites. What are you all-time favorite brews?

A Lesson in Beer Aging: Bells The Oracle

I didn't really get into craft beer until the fall of last year.  Meaning, I wasn't always aware of how special some brews are.  Sometime this winter I read more about a beer made by one of my favorite breweries, Bells Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  The beer is called The Oracle.  I am a sucker for a double IPA.  Bells Oracle, according to Rate Beer, is among the best Double IPA's out there.  As I read about it further, I discovered that this is usually an August-ish release, and it's usually quite a small amount.  

August?  Wait.  My anniversary is in August and the first stop on our way to South Haven, Michigan was in Kalamazoo at Bell's......I know I took a photo of the tap list from that day, let me dig that up.  Sure enough, there it was.  Oracle Double IPA on tap when I visited, and I didn't even realize it.  Instead, that day I enjoyed the Rye Stout and Deb's Red.  Needless to say, when I initially discovered what I missed, I was pretty bummed.  Of course I am hoping to catch this beer when it comes out in August again.

Then Monday of this week happened.  Wife sent me to the post office and afterwards I stopped by the local Whole Foods market because sometimes they have beer gems.  Lo and behold, I found a bottle of The Oracle on the shelf.  At first I was shocked, and then the shock quickly turned to sadness as I realized that the beer has a bottle date of 8/2011 and is likely way past its prime.  I decided to grab it and give it a chance anyway.

Choose your vessel:  Bells Tulip, 12oz.

Nice Lacing

The Pour:  This one poured a hazy deep orange color.  A very nice looking beer with a 2 finger foam head that clung to the glass.  Sadly, the most impressive aspect of this tasting would prove to be the incredible lacing that remained on the glass.  Which shows that at some point this beer had some resinous hop action to it.

Aroma:  My first indication that this beer was past its prime.  Smelled sweet.  Sugary sweet.  Malt is the predominant aroma, which is not what you want from an IPA....let alone a double IPA.  I did get some faint hop aromas, slight citrus and floral notes.  Those aromas led me to believe that I would actually taste them.

Taste: Malt, malt, and more malt.  If this one had been stored in a cooler, there may have been a chance the hop flavor would at least have been noticeable.  To make matters worse, the alcohol has now become more noticeable in the beer.  So you have a sweet, malty, alcohol flavored mess of a beer here.  No hops noticeable at all.  Tasted more like a barleywine than a double IPA, and Barleywine's are not my thing.

Overall:  Despite my knowledge that this experiment would not end well, I was still disappointed and just sad.  Sad that this particularly beer wasn't enjoyed the way it should have been.

Conclusion:  When I checked out at the register, I talked with the cashier about how this beer was past its prime.  She asked "beer doesn't really go bad does it?"  I then explained to her how certain beers do well with age, and certain beers do not.  Beers that are supposed to showcase the hops (and other flavors like coffee and/or chilis) do lose those flavors with time.  It's a sad fact of beer.  Bells indicates on their website a shelf life of 6 months for this beer, and I bought it at 10 months.  I knew this wasn't going to go well, but I decided that this poor bottle needed to be put out of its shelf-life waiting misery.  What I did gain from this was a sense of what this beer is supposed to be.  The faint citrus and floral hop aroma I got indicated to me that, when fresh, the beer is likely a hop monster that is balanced with a heavy malt presence in the backbone.  Definitely a beer that under normal circumstances would be right up my ally.  I wish I would have known last August that it was on tap at Bells when I visited.  After I purchased the Oracle, I had a brief twitter conversation with Bells about it.  They reported that the aroma would be noticeably different, but that the beer might still be ok.  Sadly, it was a dead bottle.

The moral of the story:  Drink your IPA's, Double IPA's, and any beers that have flavors like Coffee or chili. These beers are definitely best when consumed as fresh as possible.

Have you had experiences with beers like this?  What's in your fridge that you need to get to now?

A New Baby

Must take a timeout from beer discussion to introduce my second son, Lucas Paul, to all 4 of my readers.  Lucas was born 6/11/12 at 3:35pm.  He tipped the scales at 3.535 Kg which is about 7.12 pounds.  He measured 21.5 inches long and has a full head of reddish brown hair.

My wife's water was broken at 10:00 as a measure to induce labor.  She started having pretty strong contractions around 2:00.  At 3:25ish she started pushing and about 8 minutes later Lucas was born.  She did this without any medication, which is quite impressive.  I thought I needed an epidural at one point, so I'm not sure how she did it, other than knowing that she is amazing!  He is calm at the moment, very little crying, and seems to be a good sleeper so far.  Here are a couple photos:

Happy Pappy

Touchdown Baby

My boys and Me.

So back to beer discussion :-)  I am a firm believer that every big life event requires a special brew to celebrate.  I have a few options sitting at home in my cellar and need to decide what to enjoy tomorrow night upon our return.  Founders KBS, Founders CBS, Avery Uncle Jacob's, Goose Island Juliet, Founders Better Half, Upland Raspberry/Blackberry Lambics, Barrel Aged Old Rasputin, and many others to choose from.  Looking forward to that celebratory brew.

What beers have you had to celebrate life's special moments?