Another tribute to August Schell. It’s their 150th anniversary. To help celebrate they released a series of special draft-only beers, some based on recipes culled from the archives. They asked beer drinkers to vote for their favorite. An amber lager received the most votes and became the special anniversary release, Hopfenmalz. Here’s my notes:
Hopfenmalz
Augusts Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota
Style: Amber Lager
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle
Aroma: Grainy, toffee, and caramel malt complemented by herbal and citrus hops; tangerine and peaches.
Appearance: Dark orange-amber. It appeared lightly hazy at first but cleared as it warmed. Full, rocky, off-white head that stuck around, ultimately falling into a light film of bubbles on the surface.
Flavor: Malt dominates; rich, toasty, caramel, and brown sugar. Assertive but not over-the-top bitterness balances, without overwhelming the malt. Hints of dark fruit; figs or raisins. Hoppy light fruit notes as well. The tangerine and peach from the aroma return. Herbal hops compliment like a sauce on the main course. This beer reminds me of an English bitter, but with more intense flavors and a crisp lager finish. Many clearly articulated parts that form a solid whole.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, but with a mouth-filling, weizen-like character, almost chewy. Medium carbonation.
Overall Impression: Rich and mysterious, yet utterly drinkable. Nice complement of caramel and herbal/fruity hops. Reminds me of cooking. In fact, this is a beer made for food. My neighbors are grilling and the aroma of grilled meat, smoke and the beer are melding perfectly. This would go great with grilled meats, roast turkey, or even a caramel desert.
Continuing with my modest anniversary salute to August Schell Brewing, I’ll stay on the light side. Schell’s Pils is a beer for which no lengthy introduction is needed. So I’ll get right down to it. Here’s my notes:
Pils
August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota
Style: German Pilsner
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle
Aroma: Spicy hops under-girded by grainy sweet and bready malt.
Appearance: Crystal clear and golden colored. Fluffy white head that sticks around for a while, leaving lace on the glass with each sip.
Flavor: Sharp hop bitterness and flavor through and through. The bitterness has bite, but isn’t over the top; it’s a pilsner, not an IPA. Flavorful spicy hops with notes of pepper, fresh herbs, and licorice. Malt remains in the background; sweet and grainy with hints of fresh bread. The finish is dry and biting.
Mouthfeel: Medium body. Medium-high carbonation. Crisp.
Overall Impression: The pronounced hop character and subdued malt make this immediately identifiable as a German style pilsner. And it’s a great example of the style, one that could put many of the locally available German brands to shame. Crisp, light, easy-to-drink. A perfect accompaniment for many foods (I had it with sushi). A classic.
Every year since 2005, autumn at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company meant the release of Anniversary Ale. Until 2007 this American pale ale style offering was only available in the brewery’s Chico, California tasting room/pub. Increased demand led to the beer being offered in bottles after that.
This year, the brewery is putting an end to this tradition and starting a new one. Instead of Anniversary Ale, they have released Tumbler as their autumn seasonal. Called an “autumnal brown ale”, the website boasts of its “gracefully smooth malt character” from the use of malt “within days of roasting at the peak of its flavor.”
Here’s my notes:
Tumbler
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, California
Style: Brown Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle
Aroma: Caramel and grainy sweetness are accentuated by toast and light coffee roast. Subtle earthy hops let the malt take center stage. Hints of raisin.
Appearance: Medium-dark brown and clear. Pours with an ample beige head that lasts and lasts.
Flavor: As in the aroma, malt is the star; caramel, toast and nuts with light chocolate and coffee in the finish. Earthy and minty hops offer a cooling counterpoint to the malt. Medium bitterness with a crisp Burton character balances the sweetness. Background flavors of minerals, salt, and even coconut reveal themselves as the beer warms.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation. Nice creamy texture.
Overall Impression: I have stated in blog posts that one of my defining characteristics of a great beer is articulation of flavors. This beer has that. Malt, hops and other background characteristics are all detectable in and of themselves, yet they come together to make a tasty totality. Tumbler is a very well-made beer. But I would be disappointed by anything less from Sierra Nevada. The earthy hops and sharp, but subdued bitterness make a great counterpoint to the nutty/toasty malt. A nice beer for a chilly autumn eve.
August Schell Brewing Company in New Ulm is celebrating 150 years of beer making this month. This is a huge deal. They have big plans for the official celebration mid month. You can read all about them here. I encourage folks to get down there and help celebrate.
I tasted a lot of Schell’s beers while researching my September Star Tribune column featuring the brewery. For the column, however, I am limited to 500-ish words. I can’t talk about very many beers, nor can I go into any great detail about them. As my own small contribution to the anniversary celebration, I will publish my full tasting notes for many of the Schell’s beers on this blog over the next couple of weeks. As it is a summer seasonal and it’s time is nearly done, I’ll start with Zommerfest.Here’s my notes:
Zommerfest
August Schell Brewing Company, New Ulm, Minnesota
Style: Kölsch
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle
Aroma: Sweet pils malt. Bready. Faintest hop aroma, herbal, hint of passion fruit or blackberry. A bit yeasty. Simple, but alluring. Keeps calling me back for another sniff.
Appearance: Golden. Crytal clear. Light white head that dropped quickly.
Flavor: Hops take a more prominent position in the flavor than in the aroma. Bitterness is moderate, but more than enough to balance the delicate malt. Bitterness lasts all the way through, but softly, not offensive or in the way. Mid-palate the sweet, grainy malt briefly takes the spotlight and then fades again into the dry finish. Only a lightly lingering sweetness remains. Hops have an herbal and light blackberry character with hints of licorice. It’s all very delicate and soft-spoken, but certainly not without intrigue.
Overall Impression: The first time I tasted this beer I didn’t care for it. I don’t know what I was thinking. Light, delicate, and yet so full of flavor and subtle complexity, this is a fantastic summer sipper. Clean, crisp, and quenching. This is the kind of beer I encourage folks to taste in order understand the subtle beauty of beer that doesn’t wack you over the head.
I have been neglecting the collection of beers in my basement. On the road for the last two and a half weeks, I simply haven’t had much time to sample or write. I have some catching up to do. Gotta take one for the cause, you know. Look for a number of tasting note posts in the days and weeks to come.
Tallgrass Brewing Company of Manhattan, Kansas is a relative newcomer to the Minnesota market. This brewery from the tall-grass country held a particular interest to me. I have family in Kansas and spent many a summer vacation there while growing up. It has always been a paradoxical place to me; on the one hand barren, desolate, and boring, and on the other a realm of incredible beauty and childhood adventure (as long as you get off of the interstate). My parents met while attending Kansas State in Manhattan.
Minnesotans’ first opportunity to taste the Tallgrass beers came in June at the St. Paul Summer Beer Fest. I spent a good deal of time talking to they guys from the brewery in their booth and found them to be friendly and passionate. The sample of Oasis that I had on that day piqued my curiosity. I looked forward to the opportunity to try it again in a more controlled setting. Here’s my notes:
Oasis
Tallgrass Brewing Company, Manhattan, Kansas
Style: Extra or Imperial ESB
Serving Style: 16 oz. Can
Aroma: Malt balanced featuring caramel and biscuit. Light earthy and orange citrus hops. Definitely English in character.
Appearance: Pours with an abundant, creamy, tan head that last long into the glass. Dark amber in color and clear.
Flavor: The flavors initially follow the aroma except that the emphasis is switched from malt to hops. The reported 93 IBUs provide a bracing bitterness that lasts into the finish and beyond, but the bitterness lacks the characteristic crispness of an English ESB. Hop flavors are earthy with hints of orangey citrus. It’s not so balanced to hops that the malt is covered up. Rich caramel, toast, and biscuit malt offer ample support with unexpected notes of roast and chocolate coming at the finish as the beer warms. As with the aroma it has a clear English character. Notes of alcohol are present, perhaps a bit too present. A chalkiness, presumably from water treatment, is also perceptible.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with medium carbonation. Alcohol warming is present.
Overall Impression: A solid Extra ESB, tasty and drinkable. I found the alcohol presence to be a distraction and felt the roasted character was too high. I love the simple caramel malt of classic English bitters. While not a critique of this beer in particular – I would gladly quaff another – I do have philosophical issues with the imperializing of the style. English bitters, standard, best, or extra special, are meant to be session beers. They are flavorful and yet easy to drink. They don’t mess you up too badly, even after several pints. They are perfect beers as they are. Why mess with that?
Last night I had the opportunity to sample a bottle of Lansdowne, the newest Artisanal Reserve cider from Minneapolis headquartered Crispin. This newest addition to the Crispin lineup is named after the Lansdowne Road Stadium, home to Irish rugby until it’s demolition in 2007. Crispin owner Joe Heron is a big rugby fan. The company even sponsors rugby teams.
Irish rugby is not the only thing Irish about this cider. Continuing the experiment started with The Saint, a cider fermented with Belgian ale yeast, Lansdowne is fermented with Irish ale yeast and finished off with organic molasses for a startlingly stout-like effect.
Lansdowne joins Honey Crisp and The Saint in the Artisanal Reserve series and should appear in stores in the next few weeks.
Here’s my notes:
Lansdowne
Crispin Cider Company, Minneapolis, MN & Colfax, CA
Style: Cider with molasses and Irish ale yeast
Serving Style: 22 oz. Bottle
Aroma: Malty, caramel, and butterscotch. Perhaps even a bit toasty. Fresh apple isn’t timid, but stays slightly in the background. Reminds me of the apple butter my grandma used to make.
Appearance: Light fizz. Murky amber. Remember to rouse the yeast to get the proper effect. Not especially pretty to look at.
Flavor: Autumn. Ripe red apples. Mostly sweet, but has a light, balancing, acidic tartness that prevents it becoming cloying. The molasses comes through strong at the start giving mouth-filling caramel and burnt sugar flavors. Raisins. The yeasty butterscotch from the aroma carries into the flavor, again reminding me of grandma’s apple butter. Big and full-flavored.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied and slightly viscous. The thickness is cut by a refreshing, spritzy carbonation. A touch of warming alcohol.
Overall Impression: Upon first smelling this cider I got a mental image of fall-colored leaves blowing in the wind. This cider screams autumn. Big, rich, and sweet with complex caramel, fruit, and butterscotch flavors, it is perfect for the light chill of October in Minnesota. To those who complain that Crispin ciders are too sweet, this one will seem over the top, as the molasses/burnt sugar sweetness is only barely balanced by the apple acidity. Those who are particularly sensitive to buttery diacetyl may not be crazy about this one. I am particularly insensitive to diacetyl and found it quite pleasant. Perhaps my favorite of Crispin’s Artisanal Reserve ciders.
I love a good American Amber Ale. They are simple beers. They don’t make a lot of demands on you. Yet they are full-flavored and fairly dependably drinkable. Many dismiss them as throwaway beers, the boring bastard stepchild of the big and bitter IPAs and Double IPA’s that beer geeks love to slobber over. To me they are a pub standard. A fallback in times when I don’t want my beer to grab me by the throat and dare me to enjoy it. You might say they are like an American version of the classic English Bitter, beer for drinking and coversating.
Boulevard Brewing Company of Kansas City, Missouri recently added an amber to their lineup, aptly called Amber Ale. They say it’s a “Midwestern version” of this classic style, presumably to set it apart from its highly-hopped cousin the West Coast Amber. Some would say this makes it sound even more boring. But I’m a Midwesterner born and bred. I would say “uncomplicated.”
What ever you want to call it, I got some and I tasted it. Here’s my notes:
Amber Ale
Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, Missouri
Style: American Amber Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. bottle
Aroma: Huge caramel, like a chewy caramel candy. Sweet and sugary with a grainy malt background. Moderate floral hops. Hints of licorice. Not overly complex, but big and rich.
Appearance: Copper/Amber and clear. The moderate off-white head stuck around reasonably well.
Flavor: The flavor follows the aroma, but doesn’t come off quite as rich, in fact it seems unexpectedly thin given the rich, sugary aromas. Caramel. A bit on the sweet side, with grainy malt underpinnings. Moderate bitterness balances the sweet caramel, but it’s not highly hopped like many west coast examples. They do call it a “Midwestern” version. Moderate floral hop flavors. Candy. Rosewater. Notes of orange citrus almost like a classic English bitter. The finish is sweet and lingers on caramel. The finish is where the richness comes through.
Mouthfeel: Medium to medium light body. Medium carbonation. Finish leaves a clinging, coating of sweetness on the tongue. Not that this is a bad thing.
Overall Impression: I won’t say that this is the greatest Amber ale I have ever had. I also won’t say that it is a bad one. It’s simple, clean, easy to drink if a tad on the sweet side, and quite enjoyable. At the same time it doesn’t assert itself as anything special either. While I might not go out of my way to get hold of it, I would certainly drink this one again. Another nice pub fallback. I could see this complementing a roast turkey or even a fried pork chop, although you may want something with a bit more hop bite with fried foods.
Nothing like starting the day off with a strong Belgian beer.
At least that’s what we said as I and my photographer friend Mark Roberts rolled up to the Summit Brewery at 7:00 AM yesterday morning. Hey, the Founding Fathers started the day with a draught of strong beer or cider, why shouldn’t we. For the record, the thought was also uttered that we may have lost our minds.
But roll up we did, because bright and early on Tuesday morning was the first packaging run for the newest Unchained Series beer, Belgian Style Golden Ale, which is set for official release next week. Brewed with Belgian pilsner malt, Belgian candi sugar, Czech Saaz and Styrian Goldings hops, it clocks in officially at 8.6% ABV (it might actually be a bit stronger than that…sshhhh), making it the strongest beer ever to come out of Summit. It’s a nice breakfast beer.
After watching the first bottles roll off the line to be packed for shipment later that day, we headed out to the hospitality room for a bit of tasting. A sixpack emerged still covered in foam from bottling. Caps were popped, samples were poured, cheers were offered, and sipping ensued. It’s a shame brewer Eric Harper, the man responsible for this golden elixir, had not yet arrived. But I will confess to a certain smug satisfaction at having tasted the finished product before even he did.
Harper did come in at about 7:30 and joined us at the bar for a chat. “I’m excited to have this come out.” he said. “It’s a little weird. It’s been in the fermenter for over six weeks. Up until the time we filtered it, it had more yeast in suspension than even the Hefeweizen does. It really changes the character when you take all that out. Plus when you taste it out of the fermenter you’re drinking kind of yeasty, flat beer. It’s a lot nicer when it’s finished.”
Harper’s choice of style for his Unchained Series beer was influenced by his own tastes. “I like drinking Belgian style beers. If I go out I order a Summit or two, but I really gravitate toward Belgian stuff. Making a Belgian also gave him an opportunity to experiment. “Belgians are particularly creative in their brewing method. They don’t have any limits. Bringing in the candi syrup was fun. We haven’t used anything like that here at Summit, or any kind of adjunct for that matter.”
Asked if he was inspired by a particular Belgian beer, Harper responded, “I wasn’t aiming for a particular beer. We tasted a couple of them around the bar and took things from here and there. I liked the fruity and estery characteristics. We tasted some that were pretty phenolic and hot from the high heat fermentation. I wanted to avoid that.”
Belgian Style Golden Ale will be the first of the Unchained Series beers to be released in a cask conditioned version. According to Harper, “Damian racked some casks of this awhile ago and they have been sitting in the cooler. He’ll re-rack them again to get some of the yeast out. He’s talked about priming with the candi syrup and adding a lot more Stryian Goldings.” Sounds tasty.
Harper has a full week of launch events ahead of him. Unchained #4 will be celebrated at multiple locations every night next week. You can check here for the full listing of events.
But enough chit chat. How’s the beer taste? Here’s my notes:
Belgian Style Golden Ale
Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
Style: Belgian Strong Golden Ale
Serving Style: 12 oz. Bottle
Aroma: Pronounced fruitiness, pear, candied peaches, hints of strawberry. Pepper and licorice. Sweet pilsner malt and sugary Belgian “cotton candy.” Alcohol is apparent.
Appearance: Deep golden color and crystal clear. Raised a substantial, fluffy, and persistent white head.
Flavor: Begins with sweet pilsner malt that extends through to the finish. Alcohol is prominent, particularly at the end, and is accentuated by the dry finish. It’s warming all the way down, but stops just short of hot. Loads of fruit, orange citrus, candied peach, and pears. These increased and developed complexity halfway through the glass as the beer warmed. Peppery and floral hops character balance the sweetness. Moderate bitterness is accentuated by a dry finish. Belgian yeast character remains subdued, a background of banana and “cotton candy.” This beer became much more delicate and complex as it warmed in my glass.
Mouthfeel: High attenuation makes this a medium body beer. High carbonation. Creamy and mouth-filling. Alcohol warming is high.
Overall Impression: Another fine beer from the Unchained Series. Like many American versions of Belgian styles, it lacks some of the subtle complexity and finesse of the best Belgian examples, but is still a worthy effort. The alcohol is a more prominent than I would prefer, but the fruit notes are lovely. It developed in delicacy and depth as it warmed in my glass. I’m drinking this on my patio on a humid 93° evening and it is completely refreshing.
The Eurovision Song Contest was first broadcast in 1956. In the age before satellites, the simultaneous linking of television outlets across all of Europe was a stunning technological achievement that foretold the future of the broadcast industry. It was also the beginning of a wonderfully peculiar and uniquely European institution.
The pan-European celebration of musical nationalism that is the Eurovision Song Contest happens yearly, an annual display of fabulous frippery. The finals, now beamed across the globe, get music fans everywhere tapping their feet and singing along to a blend of cheesy europop, fantastic costumes, and bizarrely over-the-top staging. While we in the US have our own quirky cultural phenomena (anyone seen Americas Got Talent?), it is hard for me to imagine oddball extravagance on the scale of the Eurovision Song Contest happening here. Lady Gaga’s got nothing on these folks.
So what does the Eurovision Song Contest have to do with beer you ask? Van Rompuy is the answer. (Read More…)
Weyerbacher Brewing Company is one of the latest in a rush of new breweries coming into Minnesota. Out of Easton, Pennsylvania, Weyerbacher specializes in full-bodied, full-flavored ales. Big beers, in short. I sampled their Double Simcoe IPA and Merry Monks Tripel last night for a Weyerbacher double-feature. Here’s my notes:
Aroma: Citrusy hops dominate the aroma with lemon/lime and grapefruit pith. Some earthy, resinous notes hang in there as well. Sweet, syrupy malt forms a base, complemented by stone fruits and alcohol. Nice orange notes come in as the beer warms.
Appearance: Dark amber and clear. The huge, rocky head lingered on and on.
Flavor: Bitterness is the key word for this beer. Sharp bitterness starts it off and finishes it up. The bitterness comes across as a bit astringent. Hop character is mostly citrus with hits of earth and pine resin. A bit grassy, perhaps from dry-hopping. There is a menthol-like cooling effect from the intense bitterness, hop flavor, and alcohol. The grainy sweet and syrupy malt is almost enough to balance, giving brown sugar and light caramel character. The fruitiness from the aroma makes an appearance with the same orange coming through as it warms. Sweet caramel lingers after swallowing.
Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. Somewhat astringent. Definite alcohol warming, although not hot.
Overall Impression: This is certainly one for the hop heads. A bit too bitter for my taste, it struck me as a bit harsh. However, the malt is full and sweet enough to make it drinkable and enjoyable. I do love Simcoe hops.
Merry Monks
Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton, Pennsylvania
Style: Belgian Tripel
Serving Style: 12 oz Bottle
Aroma: A Belgian fruit basket. Lemons, banana, apricot and other stone fruits. Some sweet malt lurks behind. The typical “cotton candy” of Belgian yeasts. Alcohol and cloves keep the fruits and candy in check.
Appearance: Gigantic, mousse-like white head that lasted nearly to the end of the glass. Golden color with a slight chill haze that disappeared as the beer warmed.
Flavor: Fruit, candy, spice, and sweet pils malt. The malt provides a sweet and slightly bready base. The fruity and spicy character of the yeast gives off masses of banana, stone fruits, and pears. This is countered by spicy hops and yeast-derived black pepper. Alcohol is a bit hot. The finish is very dry with an intense blast of bitterness on the way out.
Mouthfeel: Medium-light body, but mouth-filling in the way of a German wheat beer. High carbonation. Slightly hot alcohol.
Overall Impression: This is a very nice tripel. Has the dryness and intense bitterness of Westmalle, but with elevated fruitiness. A bit rough around the edges, not quite as refined as some of the Trappist versions of the style, but still quite tasty. I had this with a chicken and kohlrabi soup spiced with cinnamon, coriander, and saffron. It went quite well.
Hopfenmalz
Pils
Zommerfest
Oasis
Lansdowne
