In my previous post, I mentioned the Bigfoot tasting. We also had some cheese with the beers.

I’ve read a lot about blues going well with barleywines. This certianly bore out in my experience. There was a Stilton, who’s fruitiness and creamy texture played especially well with Bigfoot. A more pedestrian, French blue also was an adequate pairing. The later cheese still had a nice blue tang, but was saltier and had a drier texture; it didn’t shine with the ‘foot the same way.

A surprise was a dry jack, an aged-gouda like cheese that also paired nicely. Its caramelly notes melded nicely with the barleywines crystal malts.

A fruity cheddar didn’t go as well with the barleywine, but later in the evening we had a stout, and it pairing surprisingly well with the cheddar.

Again, the variety of beers made a great opportunity to investigate cheese pairings. Please try this at home!

A couple nights ago a friend invited me and some others over for a “vertical” tasting of Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot.  He had been saving vintages and now had 1999-2008.  This kind of tasting is fairly common in the wine world, but more rare with beer.  The tasting produced two general observations from the group: 1.  The Bigfoot recipe has changed over time.  It was clear different hop varieties, at least, were introduced at different vintages.  2.  The hops didn’t fade with age nearly as much as one would expect.  Even the ‘99 vintage remained, balanced toward the bitter after almost a decade of age.   I would encourage all of the aspiring Beer Geeks to think about picking some beers to cellar and see how they change over time.  As with cellaring wines, pick things with higher-alcohol content and bolder flavors.  In the case of beer, hops are also preservatives, and so, hoppy beers tend to age well. We were able to make specific observations are only because we put a group of beers side-by-side.  This kind of tasting improves knowledge and appreciation for beer’s subtleties.  It’s definitely worth the effort! 

My immediate reaction to the Food and Wine Experience was that it fell a little short of expectations. That said, there were some things to like, one of which was there was a lot of stuff to try. I didn’t take detailed notes, but here a couple of thoughts:

Holy Land Deli and Bakery were there providing generous portions of their delicious food. While others were giving bite-sized morsels, Holy Land was giving paper boats with gyros, tabouleh, hummus, pita chips and more.

Maybe the most interesting wine I had was the Fritz Windisch Chardonnay. It was a German Chardonnay (I know who ever heard of that?), done in the style of a German Reisling (a little more common). I had the body of a Chard with the semi-sweet finish of a German Reisling.

I’ve always been intrigued by Petit Sirah, and I got a chance to try a couple. I enjoyed the offerings from Big House (Prodigal Son) and Fleur vineyards. The varietal has the body and fruit like a Zinfandel with softer tannins than bigger reds. I was a fan, Ms. BeerGeek not so much.

Renwood’s Amador Old Vine Zinfandel was a best of show wine last year. People flocked to it, and it was one of the best wines I had (appropriate for one of most expensive).

Maybe, I’ll talk a little about the beers next time…

Interesting. It’s a word Minnesotans often use to be nice. A former coworker and I had a joke about “interesting” and “different.” They’re words a segment of the population uses to avoid saying, “It was crap” or “I didn’t like it” or “Why would you ever put mayonnaise, snickers AND celery in the same fruit salad?”

So…I feel a little guilt calling Le Merle (the Blackbird) interesting, but that’s what I’d say about it. There are a couple of notable reasons I find it interesting: first, it pours a little darker than most saisons - more straw gold than pale yellow. Second and more importantly, it’s got a different yeast character.

You see there is A yeast for brewing saisons - THE yeast. It’s the yeast that gives the beer a big part of its saisoniness. So, to use a different yeast is bold, like white linen pants in early-May, flaunting tradition and making a statement.

I would guess North Coast is doing this at least partially in the name of efficiency, using a more standard Belgian strain and the same one they use in their Prankster.

But, here’s the deal: it works.

While the yeast character is slightly different, the beer is distinctly saison: bone dry and effervescent.

Ms. BeerGeek and I had ours tonight with Tilapia sloppy joes. The dryness cut nicely through the sweet-spicy BBQ sauce and refreshed the palate. So, it’s interesting - in a good way. That’s contrasted to the snickers, mayo and celery fruit salad - I’m still puzzling over that one.

As Minnesotans, we know something about temperature, right?  If you’re like me, you wore a down parka to work yesterday and a sweatshirt to the gym this afternoon.  Those temperature swings make a big difference!

I know that serving temperature makes a difference for beer, too.  The point was driven home for me recently:  I’ve got a 12-pack of Schell’s Caramel Bock in my fridge (while actually fridge #3, but who’s counting?).  It was humming along at refridgerator temp, so I suppose about 40F.  I pulled a Caramel Bock out and tasted it: not bad — crisp and clean like a lager should be.  I hint of nuttiness; fine, but maybe not everything I’d hoped for.

Fast forward a couple of weeks: I brew a lager that needs to be fermented at 50F, so I set my after-market temperature controller and let ‘er rip.  I go to get a Bock the next day, and it’s a whole different beer.  Still crisp in the finish but with substantially more malt, nutty with more pronounced walnut and caramelly too.  It feels fuller-bodied on the palate. And, I now sense just a hint of alcohol warmth.

Not everyone would think the temperature increase is an improvement, but I do - big time.

So, try the experiment at home.  If you’re not sitting on three fridges and a temp. controller, try taking a beer out of the fridge before you open it.  Then, compare it to one that’s been in the cold longer.  Or, put your palm in serious contact with your glass; notice how the beer changes as you progress through the beer and it gets warmer.

As it is in the Minnesota outdoors, so it is with beer: a few degrees makes a big difference!

Ms. BeerGeek and I began gearing up for judging at this weekend’s Upper-Mississippi Mashout. One of the categories we’re assigned to judge is German wheat beers.

So, to go with tonight’s dinner of braised short-ribs, we picked the Schneider’s Dunkelweizen. It has a characteristically big banana nose (75%) with substantial clove (25%) notes, too. Playing a more supporting role were the caramelly, bread-crust Munich malt and bready wheat aromas. The malty flavors were more prominent, with caramelly and wheat-bread-crust highlights. The body was medium but lightened significantly by the high carbonation.

The pairing of dunkelweizen and ribs wasn’t perfect, but it prove disastrous either.

After dinner, we savored a bottle of Aventinus Weizen Eisbock. This was a true treat! The nose was full of dark fruit, dried cherries and raisins, and malt, smelling of baking bread, honey, caramel, bananas and just a bit of clove. In the aroma (confirmed by the warming in my tummy), the substantial alcohol (12% abv) made itself known, in a complimentary and welcome way. The flavor was similarly complex: dried fruit, caramel and wheat toast. This time the body was significant, though again a high carbonation moderated what would otherwise be pancake syrup.

I got the idea to taste the Aventinus with some aged-gouda we had in the fridge. The two paired better, bring out the caramelly-goodness in each other. The cheese really brought out the alcohol in the beer - as well as highlighting its sweetness.

It was a good night of “practice” in our home. I look forward to more warming up this week.

P.S. Check out the Schneider website. Scroll to the bottom to get it in English. Then follow the brewing process link to see their quirky animation!

I’d been sitting on a bottle of Ommegang brewery’s Ommegeddon Funkhouse Ale with Brettanomyces for a while, thinking I should try it with some funky cheeses. Yesterday, Ms. BeerGeek, the new little BeerGeek-in-training and I were in NE Mpls. and got to Surdyk’s. Based on what I’d expected, the monger there actually suggested contrasting cheeses, so we ended up with an aged Gouda and an Irish wash-rind cheese (the later was awesome).

So, I popped the cork on the Ommegeddon expecting something lambic-y and funky as all get out. To the contrary, the beer was pretty mello. It actually reminded me of a Saison more than a lambic. It wasn’t sour at all. Instead, it was dry with a hint of Brett fruity and bitter in the finish. The Brett character as mild, so I suspect the beer was well-attenuated (fermented fully) before the Brett was added. In this hypothesized scenario the Brett would add just a little character and dry the beer completely.

It had a predominant lemon flavor and aroma going on, more peel than juice. Ommegang’s website suggests dry-hopping, so I suspect some of the character is from that.

The website also suggests Ommegeddon’s sold well since its release in June, so you may not find it. If you do, I’d say grad a bottle and try anywhere you’d normally consume a Saison or in place of a dry champagne.

A couple of months ago, I stumbled across a 4-pack of Sam Smith’s Nut Brown Ale in brown bottles at the Cellar’s in Roseville. I was pleased to be able to sample this beer without the deleterious effects of light for which the previous clear bottles allowed.

Even better, last night I was able to sample the Russian Imperial Stout (RIS) light-free in brown bottles. I was surprised, compared to the homebrewed RIS’s I’m typically sampling, how light bodied and well-carbonated the Sam Smith’s seemed. It still had the hallmark complexity: fruitiness and roasted malt mixing to produce a “burnt-currant” impression. It also had all the things people love about stouts: burnt, caramlized, coffee, espresso notes.  In addition, there was also a pleasantly warming alcohol note.

Ms. BeerGeek had made an ice cream cake, so I was sampling my RIS with it. The two made a nice pair. The sweetness matching each other, but the RIS cleansing the palate with its carbonation and slightly bitter finish.

I’m thrilled to have Samual Smith’s saved from the light and look forward to trying some of their other fine English varieties.

I just caught this teaser post on mnbeer.com about Fitger’s Autumn Brew Review. For the record, I think Fitger’s brews the best beer in the state and does an amazing number of styles WELL. This teaser might just have convinced me to buy tickets.