A New York Times tasting panel recently sat down with 20 American pale ales and when they got up again, three local brews were in the top ten.
Stoudt’s American Pale finished third in the judging, Sly Fox Phoenix Pale Ale was fourth and Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale was eighth.
The top two finishers where Flying Dog Doggie Style and Long Trail Pale.
Stegmaier Pale Ale. Stegmaier India Pale Ale. Stegmaier Summer Stock Pils. All three arrived here at Liquid Diet World Headquarters over the past fortnight. I informed you about that here and here and promised to offer some opinions later. Sure enough, as it must to all men, later has come.
Here’s the basic fact to remember about Stegmaier: you may not always be excited but you will never find a bad beer under this label. The folks at The Lion take particular pride in the Steg line and it always shows. And these are all three quite good beers. That doesn’t mean full-out beer-geeky , blow-your-mind, I-can’t-wait-to-get-on-BeerAdvocate-and see-how-many-gooey-adjectives-I can-cram-into-a-review beers; it means beers that are on the mark, enjoyable and worth the money.
As for that last, I’d argue without reservation that Stegmaier is the best bargain in the state, and, without too many reservations (albeit with a protective “perhaps”) ,the best buy in the entire country. The rest of the line includes, among other styles, the excellent Steg Porter, Brewhouse Bock and Winter Warmer. With that lineup. we could all drink quite well all year ’round at eminently affordable prices.
Before I have my say on the three beers in hand, here are the descriptions of same as written by Brewing Supervisor Darel Matthews and slightly edited by me for conformity’s sake (Darel is the fine gentlemen who arranged to send me the samples). Pay attention. as this will provide all the things you want to know if you are the sort who wants to know these things:
Steg Pale Ale - 4.3% ABV, 40 IBUs. Malt bill is 2-row with some light crystal and high-kilned malts. Hopping is Centennial, Amarillo and Ahtanum hops. Dry hop is Amarillo and Ahtanum.
Steg India Pale Ale - 6.8% ABV, 70 IBUs. Malt bill is 2-row, some high-kilned character malts, and wheat. Hopping is Galena and Centennial up front with a massive late hop addition of Cascade and Nugget. Dry hop is Cascade and Nugget.
Steg Summer Stock Pils - 5% ABV, 25 IBUs. It’s our on a traditional Northern German pilsner. Malt bill is 100% Cargill German Pils malt. Hopping is Perle, with Ahtanum added for a subtle, refreshing lemongrass finish.
On my initial sampling of the Pale Ale (I drank three bottles of each beer over the last week), I came away with the impression that it was somewhat maltier than might be expected. The second and third bottles adjusted my thinking. The malt backbone does become more obvious as the beer warms in the glass and I must have taken a long time to drink that first one so it was the lasting impression I had. This is not an exceptional Pale, but it is certainly drinkable.
The IPA was my favorite of the three (but on a technicality, see below) and is a more than decent representation of what has come to be considered the East Coast version of the style, going for balanced and drinkable rather than being a hop-bomb experience. You can have a couple of these without your taste buds screaming for relief and it went very nicely with a considerably hot and spicy Stir Fry I made the other night. I think it can hold its own with the vast middle range of IPAs out there.
The Summer Stock Pils is where the technicality comes in. It is the most complex of the three and clearly a well-made Pils. By personal inclination, it should be my top choice and it is very, very good. The thing is—and understand that memory is faultier the longer the time has passed and the more ancient the brain—it does not come across quite as crisp and clean as I recall the first release being. That little niggling feeling, erroneous as it might be, bothers me because I keeping thinking I’m missing something that once was.
Fortunately enough, a resolution to this conundrum is likely forthcoming. I assume all three of these beers were also sent to a Higher Authority—indeed, given his eminence, perhaps hand-delivered with each bottle on its own individual pillow. I know for sure the Pils was sent to that place on high we all call Newtown because that link 25 or some words back says so.
I await imprimatur or derision, knowing that it may take months and months, since The Man is all enamoured of Facebook these days. I, and you, have no choice but to be patient.
Brewed by Stone, with Dogfish Head and Victory, a powerhouse collaboration if ever there was one.
What an interesting beer, so much so that I was somewhat disconcerted at first.
Amazingly herbal in the nose (with a hint of lemon), even more so on the palate. After the first few sips I was beginning to get the hops and yeasty esters. Lots of sage throughout.
By the end of the bottle I was a fan, but I now I really want to try the Dogfish and Victory versions this summer. With the slightest deviation, this unique blend could go considerably south.
Or maybe be even more amazing.
Bring it on.
I figured I’d have to wait until Philly Beer Week to taste Saison Du BUFF, the Dogfish Head/Stone/Victory collaboration, but my friends at Stone would have none of that, it seems. A sample bottle arrived on the doorstep today.
Now the big decision is whether to open it soon or to wait until I can get bottles done At Victory and DFH (they will brew during PBW and release in July and August respectively) to see if there is a difference. I suspect I will opt for the former course because this godawful flu/cold/whatever is beginning to clear up and I’ll want to reward myself when I can breathe and taste again. In fact, I’m considering it a Get Well incentive package.
But I will keep my clothes on.
Bloody and only slightly bowed, I’m back home from the Washington Lecture Tour. I drove down with Brian O’Reilly Friday afternoon and stopped in at The Brewer’s Art in Baltimore on the way. We got a thorough tour of all the nooks and crannies in that incredible building and, while they don’t open until evening, the kitchen was working and we managed to have a superb “we just whipped this up” lunch while tasting all the beers on tap.
Saturday afternoon at the Brickskeller went well from the perspective of those of us on state and the audience was involved throughout and seemed pleased at the end, so Mission Accomplished on that end. Both Friday and Saturday nights involved, you will be shocked to hear, drinking all too much in venues to which we were led by Bernie Van Order, who many of you will remember from his days at Victory. After a sojourn west for another brewing gig, he’s now ensconced in DC with his fiancée as the Great Lakes Brewing sales rep. Coolest place we visited was Churchkey DC and I’ll be telling you all about and the entire trip in future posts, including the two great beers I brought home (gifts from the two of my panelists who don’t know me all that well, which may be an indication of something or other).
So, anything happen while I was gone? I heard that some brewpub or other reopened and the guy who supposed to get that news up online was out of town.
Seriously, the new Sly Fox Phoenixville looks great. I stopped in on my way home this afternoon and was duly impressed. I’ve already picked out my place at the bar but was warned that at least a dozen others have earmarked the same spot. More on all that as well, both here and in a Sly Fox Newsletter that will go Wednesday or Thursday. I hope to get some photos from Saturday night up on the Sly Fox Facebook Page either tonight or early tomorrow, as soon as the invaluable Mary Giannopoulos gets them to me.
Bryson beat me to it on this news about Very Important People. Why is he so cruel to your favorite brewers?
I’ve actually gotten back into the writing mode despite my mood, crafting some of the easier parts of a long piece which can be plugged in and revised as needed when I get down to serious business. But, to do so, I figured I needed me a beer on the desk. I mean, it’s Saturday afternoon, y’know? After all those hours of computer frustration, a reward was called for.
On a whim, I decided to crack a bottle from the sixer of Dundee’s Original Honey Brown Lager which the brewery sent me a couple of weeks back. While I can’t remember ever having it more than once or twice back in its heyday, there was a day when Honey Brown was one of the staples at bars looking to get away from the Big Blands when the options were a precious few. Also, Dundee is now trying to reposition it closer to the craft segment the brand with its original label and lower pricing, which provides further justification if such is needed.
And, you know what? It was okay. Nothing special, but a bit of flavor, easy-drinking and refreshing. It has brightened the afternoon and I think I’ll make it my fallback beer for computer crashes and similar spirit-sapping events.
By the way, I will be taking part in a virtual tasting of Dundee’s new Irish Red Lager and two old mainstays, Pale Ale and India Pale Ale, conducted by brewer Jim McDermott, in just shy of two weeks from now. It will be done online and via conference call, using Adobe Connect Pro and I will likely feel all confused and out of my depth..
You will be the first to know.
I noted last Sunday that, with my son in town on Saturday night, I brought out a couple of bottles I’d been saving for a special occasion. The header and the photo at right offer clear evidence of just which beers were in those bottles. Both of these were sent to me as samples weeks and weeks ago; both, of course, are not the sorts of beers for whom aging is a bad thing.
We opened these after dinner (which was accompanied by Sly Fox Saison Vos) and drank them unaccompanied by any foodstuff. Not the best approach, I admit, but then, neither is doing a tasting during a catch-up evening with out-of-town family. I work with what I got.
Van Twee Belgian Ale (7.5%) is the latest collaborative brew in the annual series done between Dirk Naudts of De Proef and a noted American brewer, Bell’s John Mallett in this instance. It’s a dark Belgian ale made with Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand, juice of sour cherries from Michigan and fermented with, what else, a Brettanomyces yeast strain from Belgium, plus Belgian candi suagar and bottle conditioning with sugar from Michigan sugar beets. Collaboration all ’round, for sure. It is complex beer (y’think?) which pours with a big tannish head and a cherry and chocolate nose. Nicely balanced flavors, although the brett and sour cherry are stronger up front. Smooth and very easy to drink with the alcohol nicely hidden. Van Twee is up to the high standards set but this series and I suspect it will be even better with age.
I kind of knew what I’d be getting from that one, but I was really curious about the Dock Street Barley Wine, which came listed on the label at a formidable 10.5%. Curiosity did not kill the cat in this instance; what it did do was reward my interest with a very good beer (although it too will likely get even better). It poured a reddish brown color with a small and fast-fading white head, fruit and oak and vanilla in the nose. Nice flavor overall, with a tad too much sweetness that should fade some with age. It is hoppier than one might expect, which leans it more toward the American than the British standard, but it still had a sense of the classic about it. Quite good, I thought, and nice way to spend an evening. Kudos to Ben Potts and crew. I really get the impression of late that Dock Street Ver. 2.0 has really found its groove.
IT BEGAN WITH Mr. Sixpack’s column this morning, talking of cellaring beers for the long haul. Then came Mr. Beaumont rhapsodizing about 2010 Stone Winter Storm where he had just indulged himself.
No. Scratch that.
The real beginning was yesterday when a bottle of 2010 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine arrived on my doorstep, a sample from the brewery.
When I read those posts this morning, I looked at the still falling snow and decided that the bottle would not be laid down for another day but opening this very evening. Cold winds are blowing, the world is crisp and cold and the package containing the sample bottle also included an official Old Guardian glass into which to pour the beer….
All in all, I was faced with too many signs from the beer gods for me to ignore.
Many will scoff, I know, believing that all big beers needs must be allowed to grow and change in the bottle. That’s a good basic rule, to be sure, but I also hold to what I call the Covaleski Theory (named for some guy who told it to me; if only I could remember where I met him) that a well-made barleywine can also be very special when it is fresh and new.
The photo above is stolen from the Stone website and shows Old Guardian “in its natural habitat.” This one is the first pour from my bottle done here in my natural habitat. See how all this comes together?
Stone tweaks the recipe for this beer every year and more so than ever this time, using “a new type of crystal malt made from a variety of British barley called Maris Otter” and dry-hopping with East Kent Golding hops. AS I tend to prefer the more malt-centric British approach to barleywines (Stone calls this the “Anglophilic direction”), I was really interested in seeing how this worked out, especially as their notes on the website also promised the same big hoppy presence which is the brewery signature.
Because this has been a particularly annoying day, I’ve decided to open the bottle early, setting aside the other half an late evening nightcap.
And so we are off:
Old Guardian 2010 pours with a nice head and surprisingly strong hops nose, almost like an Imperial IPA. There is the expected sweetness on first sip, dark fruit and caramel very notable, then the hops come forward again. This an 11% beer and the alcohol, while it might not come across that strong, can’t be entirely hidden, so that’s there for sure. With really excellent flavors, not all of which I can pin down, this one is a definite keeper. It is very much a Stone beer in the skill of blending of the traditional with a West Coast twist. I suspect it will only get better with age, but I am not at all unhappy that I opened it now.
But, it must be said, it is also way far from an Anglophilic interpretation.
By the way, have I ever told you that the Stone World Bistro is at the very top of my list of beer places I have never been and absolutely needs must visit? That’s because of beers like this one.
Witte Noir is a new beer—actually, at this point I suppose relatively new beer would be more accurate—which is described on the label as an Imperial Amber Wheat Ale. It was brewed by Dirk Naudts at De Proef Brouwerij in Belgium and imported into the US by SBS-Imports of Seattle. This bottle was sent to me as part of a sample package by SBS founder Alan Shapiro who cooperated with Naudts in its creation.
While it appears nowhere in any of the SBS supporting materials that were part of the shipment, it has been reported that this beer is seen as a companion brew to the very good La Grande Blanche Imperial White Ale which was one of the original SBS beers created by Shapiro and Naudts (I liked that one a lot, as did our region’s happiest non-married berk geek couple).
Witte Noire is a nice rich brown beer, 7.5% abv, which pours with a tannish head and spicy aromas with a chocolate background. It was pleasant drinking but did not, to be honest, blow me away. Not that every or any beer has to do that, but since the style appears to be sui generis, I was looking for something….different. I guess that’s the word I want. I drank its without any accompanying food, always a bad idea with a beer of this complexity, but there some malt sweetness and spice on the palate which supports the contention (by both SBS-Imports and some other reviewers) that it might be well suited to smoked foods.
To be honest, I cannot for the life of me find the notes I scribbled down at the time so I have only that general impression to offer. Not to worry, though. I see that the always opinionated Stephen Beaumont, the fine proprietor of I’m still Blogging at World of Beer but it’s only temporary, really, and John Hansell of Malt Advocate magazine reviewed Witte Noire for All About Beer’s March issue (now on the stands) and each made some points I think worth including here.
Beaumont noticed the sweetness right from the start and felt that it changed character in the beer itself, licorice and orange-peppery in the nose, more chocolate and cinnamon in the mouth, a distinction beyond my skills. He suggested it would be “a surprisingly good partner to aromatic, rather than heavily spicy, Indian food.”
Hansell started out by suggesting “the brewer’s been drinking German wheat doppelbocks for inspiration” and found notes of “molasses, fig cakes, shoofly pie, roasted nuts and burnt raisin” in the beer, along with hints of other spices.
Hey, even if I could find my notes, that level of specificity is way above my pay grade.
Coming up soon, my thoughts on Van Twee, this year’s De Proef collaborative brew with a US brewmaster, John Mallet of Bell’s Brewing in Michigan, and Aspall Cuvee Chevallier Double Fermented Cyder, both of which were included in that SBS-Imports sample package. I’m really intrigued by the Cyder and am trying to figure out the best way, and with whom, to do a tasting.
