Real Ale Brewing Company Brewer's Cut #2 Black Quadrupel

 

Hello Malt Mavens and Hop Heads. Life has been somewhat slow and repetitive in my corner of the world. My mother’s cancer is in remission, the daily grind that the Pope endures to put craft beer on the table continues without drama, and Spring in North Texas is showing its mild, albeit fleeting, head.

To welcome Spring, and clear out an ever growing reserve of craft beer, I will be focusing on beers of the Lone Star State from some of my favorite breweries since my move almost two years ago. I am also hoping to get back into regular publishing of reviews, shooting for one or two a week as opposed to the one post a month or less that has defined my recent attention to my beer duties.

To saddle up this focus on Texas craft beer, I have chosen the Real Ale Brewing Company’s second release under their “Brewer’s Cut” series, a Belgian style “Black Quadrupel“ brewed with Belgian black malt.

Pouring the chocolate hued ale, careful to not exceed the capacity of the sole chalice in my barware collection, I get a small amount of head and active carbonation from my pour. 

The aroma from the freshly decanted beer brings bold, but unsurprising notes. Chocolate and coffee play on the edge of roasted malts, as the Belgian yeast adds a slight fruitiness to the party. 

Now, to be honest, I was really looking forward to reviewing this beer since enjoying it last November on tap at the Dallas Winter Warmer, a local beer festival. I’m not one that usually identifies as a fan of beers brewed with Belgian yeast strains,  but this offering twirled my moustache from first sip. 

The roastiness of the malt, bringing a nice chocolate base, combined with the dark currant and fruit notes from the yeast strain, make an ale that offers the best flavor profiles from dark beer and red wine. Allowing the ale to warm up brings out more of the fruitiness, making it quite tasty at any range of temperatures.

My brother, who is bonkers for Belgian and Belgian style brews, often professes he would consume nothing but this brew if it were more than just a one shot from the Blanco, TX brewery. I cannot doubt nor blame my brother for his fanaticism for it is a beer that is making me take another, more open look at Belgian inspired intoxicants.

Happy Drinking!

 

La Bestia Aimable by Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling

When I started drinking beer, I knew off the bat that I would be avoiding the mass produced pilsners that my peers where drinking, but I didn’t really have American craft beers on my radar. For the most part, if I was going to invest in a 9-10 dollar six pack, I was going to get a beer from the Untied Kingdom Germany, with the few exceptions from a few select breweries such as Anchor Steam or New Belgium.  Not really until I moved to Atlanta, did I begin to understand the wonderful opportunities that are available from local breweries, thanks primarily to the Terrapin Brewing Company. Now that I have returned to Texas, not only do I bring a affinity for locally produced ale, but the state has exploded with a much broader selection available. When I left I knew of three breweries in the state, Spoetzl, Saint Arnolds, and a very young Rahr and Sons. Today I can’t count the number of emerging breweries on the total of my toes and fingers.

It excites me to begin a Texas craft beer appreciation on Intoxico.net with a beer that was gifted to me by Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling, a 750 ml bottle of their Belgian Strong Ale, La Bestia Aimable, which I shared with my brother and fellow home brewer.

This is the most my brother would allow of him to be seen on the internet.
Ladybird though, in the background had no such problem. 

Pouring the bottle conditioned brew (or in other words it was bottled with active yeast cultures, which adds additional aging and carbonation after bottling) into two pint glasses, no real head formed, and exhibited only a very slight carbonation. The ale itself was a deep brown and cloudy with sediment.

I love to see a born on date on my beer. 

The nose was malt forward with coffee undertones.

On the palate, the forward essence was that of toffee with a nice sharp bitterness and sweetness. Once mellowed, the flavor profile becomes very wine like with spice, fruit and woodnotes, exciting my taste buds with a variety of flavor.

Combined with a syrupy mouthfeel, the full bodied beverage perhaps would have been best when paired with some red meat or bold cheese to help cleanse the palate after each sip, but was very enjoyable on its own.

Prost! 

Invocation by Wild Heaven

When I was on my way out of Atlanta I had picked up a sample of beers that where getting a lot of good press, tell she who must be obeyed that I just wanted to have some craft beer to drink in Texas indicative of my home in Georgia.  As well, on the trip west I picked up a few more local brews to critique, leaving me with a fair amount and good variety of brews to drink. I made a resolve to purchase no more beer till a serious dent was made in the recent acquisitions.

Somehow though, I got distracted and ended up procuring more beer from breweries, these in the lone star state this weekend, earning me a number of looks from my wife who continues to see beer pile up in the fridge and in various boxes around the house. To gain good karma from my better half, I have promised to get through the transported bottle before cracking a “longhorn bottle,” the moniker which the Rahr and Sons Brewery refers to longnecks.

To begin my dissemination of the remaining maltose mixtures, I will start with the Belgian golden ale Invocation from Wild Haven Craft Beers

The beer pours out a nice, stark white and frothy head atop a light orange hued, slightly cloudy beverage. While the head is substantial when first poured, it does die down to a hardy layer about dime’s width.

Taking in the aroma of the freshly poured beer there is a fair amount of clove notes with a warm citrus accent.

Contrary to the smell of the spirit though, the front end of the brew is an orange peel bitterness rounded out with clove on the backend. Once the bitter citrus flavor subsides, a nice cinnamon like spiciness develops, as well a very mild pineapple like characteristic. There is a very slight alcohol hotness that is likely a result of the high 8.5% ABV, but I feel it would be overlooked if not being aggressively reviewed by the drinker.

After drinking a pair of these beers, I can say that the quality of the ingredients and the skill that crafted this beer to be excellent and on par with that of Terrapin’s, another local Georgian beer. Where Wild Heaven sets themselves apart is the ability to be full flavored with a medium bodied beer, which is more trying than simply turning up every aspect of a beers flavor up to 11.

Prost!

Monk's Revenge By Terrapin Brewing Co.

Kicking off with the very strait forward and benchmark style of the double IPA from Red Brick,  for IPA Day, another Georgia beer followed up with a bit of a curve ball on the India Pale Ale style.  Hailing from Athens, GA, Terrapin’s first showing of the night was Monk’s Revenge. Part of their “Monster Beer Tour,” the Belgian India Pale Ale is a high ABV beer that appears to have been brewed with Belgian yeast.

The body exhibiting a copper hue, the head was thin, but exhibited excellent lacing qualities as the beer was consumed.

An aroma of hops initially greets the olfactory glands, but is quickly inundated also with a banana and clove backend.

On the initial consumption in this beer there is the hop bitterness that one expects from an American India Pale Ale. As the sharp carbonated syrup like beverage washes over the tongue the banana and clove flavors one expects from in a Belgian triple becomes apparent. In the mix with the citrus, these fruit flavors develop a flavor reminiscent of natural cherries.

As the bitterness subsides, the beer developes into a more traditional Belgian banana and clove mélange with a touch of cloying sweetness.

As the night progressed I had a few more Terrapin bottles, uncapping several bottles of Hopsecutioner and Hop Karma Brown IPA, exploring the wonderful play that this brewery fills its dance card with different combinations hops, malts and yeasts.

Prost!

Pope Crisco

Ommegang’s Chocolate Indulgence

Today was a busy day.  As my time in Atlanta winds down, the day was filled with yet more packing, and the bottling of my previously mentioned chocolate coffee oatmeal stout, tentatively named Chocolate Goat after the beers use of chocolate and dark malts, and the coffee which is called Dancing Goats, a local favorite here in the city (I had a sample of the green, uncarbonated beer, and am looking forward to drinking it when bottle conditioned a little more.)

Also, thanks to a local beer market, Ale Yeah, and their twitter account, I learned that today, July 21^st, is the day that Belgium celebrates its independence. As well, thanks to their twitter feed, my wife was aware, and intrigued, to learn about Ommegang’s Chocolate Indulgence, a chocolate stout brewed with Belgian Yeast.

I joked with Haley that if Cathy, the comic strip character,was a craft beer drinker, the name alone would make this her favorite.

Haley, who has also never proclaimed a love for Mondays, however is a craft beer drinker, and loves Chocolate stouts as a special treat. Wanting an excuse to purchase a beer that I would usually avoid based on its price tag, I found it easier than usual to put 26 bucks on a growler when done as a gift to my wife.

Pouring into a chalice that I got free with the purchase of a growler, the elixir came out a wondrously opaque black and was topped with a cumulous like, toffee colored head (the picture I took was not indicative of the pours taken afterward, I am a bit over cautious when initial decant from a growler.)  

The nose was warm, with the predominant notes of coffee and chocolate attacking the olfactory glands , with a slight yeast or bready tone on the backend.

The first sip was heavy on the palate, with a thick, rich, velvety and somewhat dry mouthfeel. Flavors of dark, rich chocolate and coffee take hold of my attention on the first sip. As my tongue became accustomed to the stronger flavors, notes of fruit, mostly of banana, round out the backend, and bring an unusual and distinct flavor combination. A very slight alcohol hotness was also present, but did not detract from overall enjoyment of the beer.

If not for the price tag (although I can taste an argument for the outlay of its price tag,) I would recommend this beer to every beer drinker. The stout in question was everything a great chocolate stout should be, with a little something more to keep it interesting.

Prost!

The Wrecking Bar Brewpub, Atlanta, GA

While the front facade shows the building's beauty,

the entrance to the bar is in the back, located in the basement.

Today I found myself in a small warehouse in the back of the Wrecking Bar Brewpub, located in the Little 5 Points area of Atlanta, as the new brewpub’s brewmaster, Chris Terenzi, held a captive audience of a dozen or more patrons who came to the first opportunity for lunch service and brewery tour since the bar’s opening less than a month ago. With the same energy and enthusiasm of the affable actor Seth Rogan, Chris brought a jovial tone and educated tongue to explaining the process of a small scale brewery to what seemed to be a good mix of home brewers, beer enthusiasts, and beer drinkers. As Chris began to discuss plans to expand from the current 5 beer rotation to 12 brews in the coming months and years, he pointed out that the brewpub’s owner, Bob Sandage, had joined the group mid-tour, and how their partnership evolved into this burgeoning business.

WB's Fermentation Vessels.

Chris shows off the mash tun and wort chillers.

Cold storage that serves the beer at the bar upstairs.

When the tour winded down, I asked Bob and Chris for a photo opportunity to post on this blog, and I found it hard not to gush about the wonderful experience, from the beer to the staff, that this “lunch” had offered. I complimented him on emplying staff such as Neil, our lunch waiter, who had a wide range of knowledge of the beer on tap, the brewing processes, and was even able to engage me in an extended discussion about our personal home brewing experiences.  Chris interjected that when hiring for the brewpub, even before applicants were offered an application, that they had to go through a 16-question quiz on beer and brewing. Both he and Bob reinforced that they wanted the best beer-centric wait and bar staff, even rejecting the services of bar veterans because they were more versed in wines and liquors than brewing. 

Owner Bob and Brewmaster Chris

As much as I wanted to show my beer snobbery in relation to other bars and breweries in the area, in testement to their character, was impossible to get these two men to criticize the other players in the Atlanta bar and brewpub scene. They continuously undercut my compliments to reinforce the role their competition plays in the local and state beer community. Even when discussing the role that inconsistancy in the natural products used for brewing effect the art of crafting beer, Chris gave compliment to macrobrewers’ ability to retool their recipes for the sake of consistency. While not really saying anything negative about larger breweries, Chris at most only suggested an issue of these macrobreweries marketing their beers, not the products’ quality, and never lingered on the subject while in discussion with a tour member.

All members of the staff that I interacted with showed a decorum and thoughtfulness that was just as present in the quality of the beer and food that we enjoyed before allowing the proprietors to convey it verbally.

The sandwiches that my wife and I enjoyed, a pulled pork sandwich and a hot pastrami sandwich respectively, were tender, balanced, and robust. As well, the Belgian style fries that were light and perfectly seasoned, came with homemade ketchup, a homemade ranch, and a spicy mayo dipping sauce that augmented the potato flavor, and made the trip to the Wrecking Bar for eating worthwhile in itself. 

With all of my pontification on subjects excluding the taps, I am sure you’re more than ready to know about the quality of the beer itself. In the simplest terms, their offerings are what I believe locally crafted beer should be at its best. Each of the five beers that were on tap, which were available in a pint or 8oz “shorty” (excluding the Abbey ale), was honest to the style and balanced while being incredibly full of flavor. 

While not as in depth as a normal review where a single beer is the focus, here are some brief impressions of the offerings on tap this afternoon. 

The Ol’ Lantern Jaw English Mild, Golden Nelson Ale, and King Louie India Pale Ale.

The Golden Nelson Ale:  A perfectly clear, straw colored ale with a nice, hoppy, although not overly bitter, flavor, and a dry white wine finish. Described as the flagship beer of the brewpub by our waiter, this was perhaps my wife’s favorite beer of the afternoon. 

The Ol’ Lantern Jaw English Mild: A nice dark, yet light bodied ale that had a nice toffee tone with a  slight coffee bitterness on the backend. With a 3.7% ABV it also meets the criteria for a true session beer, an often overlooked defining measure of session beer by American breweries.

King Louie IPA: Named after the orangutan king from the Jungle Book due to a similar burnt orange hue, this was my favorite beer of the day, being hop forward with strong floral notes brightened by a slight citrus and sweet, malty backend.  

Belgina Wit: The last beer my wife and I tried this afternoon was a lighter flavored, typical wheat beer, defined by a sweet banana forward flavor, and easily drinkable.

Wrecking Bar Abbey Dubbel: Rocking a 7.8% ABV, this beer exhibited a fuller banana and clove profile, rounded out with sweet, caramel goodness.

My only regret in going to the Wrecking Bar is that in a little more than a week’s time there will little opportunity to enjoy this brewpub again on the near horizon. 

Pope Crisco

Golden Monkey - Victory Brewing Company

I really have not found a Belgium or a Belgium style brew that i like in a long time, and this is no exception.

It tasted of nothing but fruit (bannana) and spice.
It got me a tadd buzzed being my first beer of the evening with help from a 9.5%abv, but it left me feeling sick and tasting fruit all night.

there was a little hoppyness, but after 12 oz all that i left with was a disgustingly sweet aftertaste, and slightly ruined the enjoyment of a shiner bock afterwords.