Top Shelf Thursday, May 2014: The Tart & the Horsey II

We just can’t get enough of a good thing here at The House.  Not content with throwing the first & only sour & wild beer festival in western PA (which wrapped its third year just over a month ago), we gotta have more of the beautiful funk!  That’s what this past Top Shelf Thursday was all about – bringing more of it to those who also can’t get enough!

Okay, done grandstanding.  After last year’s presentation of The Sour & the Funky, we had enough folks who either couldn’t attend because of scheduling conflicts, or who couldn’t spring for the entry fee, or who were just down for another round, so we decided to do an “encore” of The Sour & the Funky & fit it into one of our Top Shelf Thursday tastings, calling it ‘The Tart & the Horsey’ (“tart” is obvious; “horsey” is a common descriptor for musky, pungent brett beers).  Ten samples for $17 is easier to handle.  We think of it as the ‘EP’ to TS&tF’s double album.  As there were a few more repeat attendees to both the bigger event & the smaller tasting this year, we also mixed up the line-up a little more, including a few highlights from the original list with even more novel additions.  Batter up!

If I say that we started folks off easy, it’s by no means a discredit to the beer – it’s just that Lindemans Faro is easy to love.  A blend of old & young lambic, sweetened with candy sugar, this lesser known Belgian style hits a beautiful balance of sweet & tart.

Few had heard of California’s Cismontane Brewing, & their Flanders-style red, named Marea Roja, was the first of several for the night.  Though a little thin at first, the beer opened as it warmed, bringing smooth cherry & subtly tart vinegar notes to the fore.

We moved from the sour to squarely funky territory with the next two courses, both farmhouse-style ales.  Jolly Pumpkin is known for barrel-aging with wild & ambient microflora, which explained the aggressive foam that spewed from both bottles of their hoppy farmhouse, ES Bam.  It packed a big brettanomyces wallop, characteristic of this cult brewer’s work.  Liopard Oir, from Erie’s Lavery Brewing, was a little more smooth & subtle in the brett delivery, making for a nice contrast with the ES Bam.  Gaelic for “golden leopard”, the symbol that adorns the Lavery family crest, Liopard Oir took the gold medal in the Saison category at the most recent Great American Beer Festival – serendipitous naming!

If sour beer is to your thing at all, Timmermans Oude Gueuze will hit you right in the solar plexus.  This traditional gueuze delivered a pungent, complex aroma wafting over a seriously sour body.  If tonight’s tasting had a thesis, this would be it – all that wild beer can be.  All the more impressive that it comes from a brewery typically known for its lighter, sweeter takes on lambic.

While Timmermans Oude Gueuze is pure tradition, Evil Twin’s Femme Fatale Blanc took a turn in the more experimental direction.  A 100% brett-fermented IPA with the Kiwi Nelson Sauvin hops, Femme Fatale Blanc (like last month’s American Style IPA) demonstrated how well brett can complement the hop character of a bold IPA.

Speaking of non-traditional, we found ourselves at a cross roads of tradition & innovation with Drie Fonteinen’s Zwet.Be.  A porter fermented with the lees of used lambic barrels, it was interesting to see one of the world’s most renowned lambic breweries breaking the mold, creating a hybrid of two long-standing traditions.

California’s Almanac Brewing also flirted with experimentation & tradition with Dogpatch Sour.  Inspired by Flanders reds, Almanac took the step of adding cherries & fermenting with a San Francisco sourdough yeast culture, creating a deeply flavorful & aggressive acidic beer.  Locals Draai Laag also tend to bend the style rules in almost everything they do, & La Pienture (“The Painted One”) was no exception.  Falling somewhere between a Flanders red, oud bruin, & kriekbier, this anomaly was full of flavor, & we were happy to have tried it in its newly christened bottle form.

Last but far from least was Goose Island’s Lolita, the most nubile & seductive of Goose Island’s four sisters (I can’t believe I just wrote that – oy).  Brewed with brett & bugs, aged in wine barrels with raspberries, this little beauty was deceptively strong at 9% ABV, capping the evening with a delightfully deep, complex tartness & fruit character. 

So there it was, the “midnight snack” after a feast of sour, wild, funky beers.  I think what I appreciate about a flight like this is how much variation can be displayed even within a niche as tight as the “sans-saccharo” family.  As always, people were into the beers to varying degrees, but what’s important is that everyone was game & willing to try something that may have been a bit outside their comfort zone.  Then again, there were those found themselves right at home.  Different strokes.  As always, thanks to all who came out, drank, discussed, drank, & made friends over the course of a fun evening.  Hope you’ll join us next month – John suggested we do “staff picks”.  Could be interesting…

My Cantillon Story

Have you heard?  Sour beers are getting popular.  Mainstream news sources (most recently USA Today) have noticed the upswing in the number of sour & wild beers rolling off lines - google “sour beer trend”.  They’ve noticed the accolades that they get, & cultish appreciation around these mysterious bugged brews.  While sour beers are definitely trending up, it’s hard to say that there’s tremendous exposure or popularity outside of that niche.  It’s probably safe to say that the amount of sour beer being consumed in the US is still only a fraction of a percentage of craft beer, which itself still only comprises seven percent of overall domestic beer consumption.  But the attentive media, supported by anecdotal evidence within our hallowed walls, says that sours are hot.  Don’t know if the demand - OR the supply - will hold fast, but it’s an exciting time if you’re into these esoteric ales. 

And people are paying for them.  Sours are expensive to make, taking a long time to ferment &, if blended, more hands-on time than many other styles.  They’re temperamental – not all wild/sour fermentation turns out pleasant, & the microflora used to ferment can be fussy.  They’re limited, most only released annually, if that.  But when done right, the results are exquisite, & the demand is high for the good stuff.

It didn’t used to be.  When I hear about sour beers on the rise, my mind goes back nine years ago to Kelly’s Bar & Lounge.  It was the middle of summer, my sister was visiting from out of town, & we hit Kelly’s for dinner & drinks after a hot day stomping around the east end.  I saw Cantillon Kriek on their menu, & had recently had a kriek from Red Star in Greensburg, a very fruity, sweet, refreshing beer.  Thought the Cantillon would be right up my alley.  The server brought a 750 mL bottle to the table, way more than I was expecting.  O-o-o-okay.  I dove in & poured a glass.  It smelled & tasted like vinegar with the sourest cherry flavor imaginable.  I tried another sip – just couldn’t do it.  To my palate, this stuff was putrid & undrinkable.  My sister tried some & confirmed it.  Gah.  I ordered another beer – I forget what, but I’m pretty sure I played it safe. 

We finished the meal & the check came.  I scoped out what this turd was going to cost me - $16.95!  WTF?!  It was doubtless the most I’d ever spent on a beer up to that point.  Nonetheless, I held my nose & settled up, lesson learned.

$16.95 for a 750mL bottle of Cantillon.  At a restaurant.  And I hated it.  Maybe you thought going in that this was going to be a story about how I was into sours before they were cool, but it wasn’t & I wasn’t.  A year later I had a Rodenbach at a beer festival & thought it sucked, too.  Now Flanders reds are my favorite style.  It took another few years & reading The Brewmaster’s Table until I was ready to give sour beer another stab – the description, the history, the process intrigued me.  I tried a Lindemans Cuvee Rene & loved the complexity & challenging aspect of it.  I got it then; it stuck. 

We used to stock Cantillon regularly at The House – at the time, a bottle of Lou Pepe was $18, & I’m pretty sure it was the priciest bottle in the store.  Things have really changed – Vecenie’s doesn’t distribute it any more.  When a bottle does float in, it sure as hell doesn’t go for $18.  These days, Cantillon is one of the most prestigious brewers in the world, & the subject of much braggadocio among beer geeks.  A decade ago?  No big deal, just that weird brewer with the unpronounceable name, that makes lambics that don’t taste like Lindemans.  I chuckle & think about how good I had it, & how gross it was.  

Top Shelf Thursday, April 2014: Brother vs. Brother

It’s hard not to take interest in the lives of Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø & Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, the identical Danish gypsy-brewing twins.  That description alone should whet your appetite.  The story of the minds behind Evil Twin & Mikkeller, respectively, has been the stuff of legend.  How much of the rivalry talesares true?  Are they really never in the same room?  Maybe it’s a Tyler Durden scenario – who knows?  What we do know is this – their labels are hard to miss, & they design some damn good brew to back them.

I use the word “design” deliberately – it’s a stretch to say they “brew” the beer, though “make” is closer.  They create the recipe, choose the ingredients, & leave the actually brewing to the brewers at De Proefbrouwerij, Westbrook, Anchorage, or whoever is hosting their latest project.  Such is the nature of the gypsy brewer: ever nomadic, without a brick & mortar to call home.  Mikkeller (originally the project of brother Mikkel & friend Kristian Klarup Keller, thus the name) pretty much made gypsy brewing a thing, with others also adopting the ethos – among them brother Jeppe, in part, possibly, to serve as a thorn in his brother’s side. 

The fixation on these two has been long-withstanding, & an article in the New York Times magazine not too long ago spurred my interest further.  Why not use the Top Shelf Thursday platform to indulge this fixation?  All systems go!

If Evil Twin has a “flagship”, it’s probably their Hipster Ale, an American-style pale ale.  It hit familiar notes, with a citrusy overtone & a dry finish – maybe the only truly distinguishing thing about it was its place as the first canned beer poured at a Top Shelf Thursday.  Familiarity soon vanished with the second beer from Evil Twin, a smoked pilsner known as The Cowboy.  The idea of a smoked pilsner was new to pretty much all in attendance, & the flavors of the smoked malt overlapped well with the earthy & sulfur-like notes of the pilsner’s noble hops. 

We ventured into entirely different territory with Mikkeller’s Beer Geek BreAKfast (note the ‘AK’), Mikkeller’s famous coffee imperial stout tweaked by the brett-&-barrel-heavy Anchorage Brewing.  The coffee notes were prominent, complemented by the dry finish of the brettanomyces.  Brett figured into the next two beers from Mikkeller, as well.  American Style IPA, created in collaboration with fellow gypsy Prairie Artisan Ales, was fermented 100% with brett.  The strain they used was a relatively clean one, foregoing the expected barnyard funk & instead imparting a fantastic pineapple flavor to the hopped up ale.  It’s Alive, Mikkeller’s tribute to the renowned Orval, displayed its brett in a different way.  This one definitely had a funky, herbal nose, delivering more classic brett character. 

Perhaps the award for best label of the night went to Keith Shore’s fluorescent design for Mikkeller’s 1000 IBU.  While perhaps hyperbolic, many understood how Mikkel arrived at the name of this abrasive double IPA. 

Evil Twin’s Yin, described as a “Taiji Imperial Stout”, hit familiar strains of dark fruit, roast coffee, & a bracing malt & alcohol backbone.  Yin was conceived as a complement to Yang, a “Taiji Imperial IPA”, meant to be drank as a black & tan, though it worked perfectly well solo.  Booze played a role in Evil Twin’s Freudian Slip, as well.  This American-style barleywine bore a strong but balanced hoppiness that interplayed smoothly with the characteristic barleywine heat.

There were many looks of recognition when we broke out Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, a beer whose reputation precedes it for its use of kopi luwak coffee beans, processed through the digestive system of an Asian palm civet.  Though many had heard of this brew, few had tried it, & were impressed by the rich chocolate flavors & velvety mouthfeel.  And many questions arose around the final beer of the night, Evil Twin’s Lil’s B: what’s the ‘B’ stand for?  Who’s on the label?  Is it a young man?  An old woman?  Lil’ B left no doubt in the minds of attendees as to its deliciousness, an imperial porter that definitely satisfied.

Thanks again to all who came out to this Top Shelf Thursday during Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week.  If you haven’t read the New York Times article (& have a half-hour to spare), I strongly recommend it.  It paints the picture of the twins’ complicated relationship, & their place in an increasingly complicated craft beer world, poignantly.  As always, though, the beer speaks for itself.