New Home!
The site is now officially moved to http://nighthops.com . . . be sure to stop in and see the new home for “A Night With The Hops!”
Where are they?
First, I would like to get the business portion of this post out of the way so I can move on to the fun stuff. Just a reminder that this blog will be moving to its own domain at http://nighthops.com! This is the last post that I will have at this site and starting tomorrow (Monday the 10th) everything will be happening at the new location. After a few finishing touches today “A Night With The Hops” will be moved to its new, permanent home.
Now, moving on . . .
Sunday seems to be a day when I spend time thinking, at least once I settle in to relaxation mode sometime in the afternoon. After making a few stops around town yesterday, I find myself attempting to construct my thoughts on buying beer for a future post.
I was again walking the same beer aisles over and over not knowing what exactly I was looking for. At the very least I had settled in my mind that I was looking only for beers from the United States. Of course, that really doesn’t narrow the field down much.
So many options.
Searching the Internet for the best beers in America, I stumbled upon a map from earlier this year that I found interesting.
While it doesn’t tell me what beer to buy, I did learn a few things about where in the U.S. the beer awards have gone. Beer for thought I guess. It also has a great mention of Genesee Cream Ale that my Uncle Mark should smile at. I would have grabbed that for sure if it had been on the shelves yesterday.
Pizza (and beer) Fusion
So, here we are on Saturday and again I have pizza and beer excursion to share. I shouldn’t put it that way because before last Saturday’s trip to Mellow Mushroom I cannot remember the last time I was out for pizza. It’s not exactly on my weekly schedule.
We happened to be in the area of Pizza Fusion and since my wife has been talking about going there for quite some time, we really had to give it a try. Once we were inside I also really had to try out a few beers. Just to get it off my chest right now . . . Yes, I was the guy taking notes on the beer at the table and yes, I was wearing my Voodoo Doughnut shirt because they are the best doughnuts anywhere, period, end of story.
Hard at work.
Pizza Fusion has made a name for itself by using only the highest quality ingredients, most of which are organic (over 75 percent) and with all of them being extremely fresh. With that they also serve organic and gluten free beers (at least at our location in Orlando). I chose a sampler of four beers from Orlando Brewing (certified organic brewery) consisting of their European Pilz, Red Ale, Pompous Ass IPA, and Eagle Stout.
As I mentioned in the post on my experience at Mellow Mushroom, it’s not the best situation to review beers back to back to back to back, but I am a trooper and gave it a go anyway. I wrote a few things down on each of the four, not a comprehensive review, but enough to share my conclusions.
Posing for a picture
The European Pilz was clear, light, clean, and crisp as I expected a pilsner to be. It really is a good accompaniment to pizza in part because it doesn’t fill you up on its own and leaves you with plenty of room for more pizza. It doesn’t really have a distinguishable aroma, but that may have been affected a bit by my environment. There was some bite from the carbonation.
The Red Ale didn’t really have a prominent aroma either. It was somewhat smooth and creamy on the palate. There was slight hop bitterness with some dryness at the finish. It was clean, but didn’t have a lot of flavor (for an ale).
The Pompous Ass IPA (great name) didn’t have a big aroma, but there was enough hoppiness there to tell where I was headed. The flavor had good hop bitterness, more so than the aroma implied. There was also slight creaminess on the palate and some bite from the carbonation.
The Eagle Stout had a light roasted malt aroma and a medium body. It also was a bit creamy and had some sharpness to it. There was some roasty to burnt flavor there, but also something else that I couldn’t quite pick out.
My overall impression is that each beer was OK and I say that perhaps viewing them differently as an organic (and local) product. They were not my favorites since I tend to enjoy beers with bigger flavor, but they are good and everyone should give them (and other organic beers) a try if they have been hesitant to this point.
I wouldn’t want to end this post without telling you about the pizza. It’s really good. I don’t think I need to say much more than that. I had the Philly Cheese Steak Pizza with steak, roasted bell peppers, roasted red onion, parsley, tomato sauce, gorgonzola, mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan on a thin multigrain crust. How could all that have possibly turned into a bad pizza?
One last thing . . . As I mentioned in my post on Thursday, this blog will be moving to its own domain at http://nighthops.com! The last day that I will post new material to this site will be tomorrow (Sunday, the 9th of August). Starting Monday the 10th everything will be happening at the new location. I hope everyone will stop by the new home for “A Night With The Hops.”
Lagunitas Brewing Co. – Cappuccino Stout
Continuing on with the theme of my early beer reviews on this site, I have chosen another of my favorite breweries. This happens to be the first Lagunitas that I had after deciding to write down my personal impressions. If you would like to find their beers, just look for a label that has a little dog with a black patch of fur around one eye. Sometimes its not that noticeable, but it’s there.
For those of you wondering (since I did at first), it is pronounced “lah-goo-knee-tuss.”
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Co. (Petaluma, CA)
Name: Cappuccino Stout
Style: American Stout (possibly Russian Imperial Stout)
ABV: 8.29%
Tasting Notes: Stored in the wine fridge and served in a pint glass.
Aroma: Some roasted malt aroma, though not extreme. No burnt character noticed. A little hint of coffee is there as well as a low hop nose.
Appearance: Dark brown with a slight red hue (when held to light). Has a two-finger high tan/café au lait head that dissipates rather quickly. Quite clear and can even see some bubbles rising despite the dark brown color.
Flavor: Strong maltiness with a slightly burnt coffee to bittersweet chocolate flavor. The hop flavor is more prominent than the aroma implies. Slight bit of alcohol noticeable. Some dryness and very slight astringency (puckering) at the finish, which does linger a bit.
Mouthfeel: Medium body (maybe slightly more full) with a bit of alcohol warmth. Low level of carbonation.
Overall Impressions: Gets much better as it warms and the very slight astringency (puckering) lessens. It was actually hoppier and not quite as malty as I expected. The coffee flavor was weaker than I thought going in (that was influenced only by reading the label). Overall it was OK, but not great (looking back not near the top of my Lagunitas brews). I would like to try it again closer to room temperature to see if my impressions change.
Grade: B (somewhere in that range)
Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout
Coming Soon
Before jumping right into the main topic of this post, I would like to announce that this blog will be moving to its own domain at http://nighthops.com! The last day that I will post new material to this site will be this coming Sunday, the 9th of August. Starting Monday the 10th everything will be happening at the new location. This all came together a lot quicker than I anticipated (many thanks and beers on my tab to Adam) and I am very excited about “A Night With The Hops” having its own, permanent home. Over the next few days I intend to get the new place cleaned up and ready for you all to see.
Onward we go to more things beer . . .
I really want to share the process that I go through to evaluate the beers that I post on this site. A few of the same steps have even carried over a bit to any beers that I have while at dinner or out for drinks.
I believe the information is too much to really get a handle on in one post, so my plan is to do a series of entries tentatively titled “My Tasting Ways.” I hope to describe the methods that I use as well as explain where I may stray from the standard. By spelling out what I know and what I struggle with, we all might look at our next pint with a slightly different perspective.
The beer topics currently on the agenda for this series are:
- Buying
- Storing
- Glassware
- Pouring
- Appearance
- Aroma
- Flavor
- Mouthfeel
- Overall Impressions
- Grading
Those of you familiar with the BJCP will know exactly where I came up with some of that list. I may throw in another one or two along the way if I realize that I am missing something big or if any of you suggest another subject.
My aim is to get through two of the areas each week, likely starting early next week as a way to kick off the new site location. In the meantime here is a short video on tasting beer to give some food (or beer) for thought.
Swimming in Beer
Not literally, though I would certainly entertain the opportunity if it ever came. I mean to say that my mind is swimming in a sea of beer information.
When I began my beer evaluation efforts, there was no real reason to do so other than to figure out and remember what beers I enjoy and which ones would be a one time only purchase. Then I read into the Beer Judge Certification Program and found it amazing that a person could own that much information on the subject of beer. Wanting to someday approach that level of beer knowledge, the process began to get a bit more serious for me.
The record keeping became a hobby and has since become an obsession. My daily reading of beer blogs, viewing brewery sites, and searching for miscellaneous beer-related information has made it perfectly clear that I have so much out there to learn. Of course I knew that at the beginning, but I know now that I want to learn it all and experience as much of it as I can.
Fortunately this will be a process that I am going to thoroughly enjoy one article, one brewery visit, one homebrew, one conversation, and one glass at a time.
Time to get started
Shmaltz Brewing Co. – Freaktoberfest
I will admit that the first beer from Shmaltz Brewing Co. that I purchased was because the label caught my eye. The second, third, and every one since was because behind the really cool labels are some really good beers. They got me hooked and it all started with a crazy smiling face. I am sure their marketing department loves to hear that!
Since you will be seeing more Shmaltz reviews along the way, I should explain that they have two lines (for lack of a better word at this moment) of beer . . . HE’BREW Beer and Coney Island Craft Lagers.
Brewery: Shmaltz Brewing Co. (Saratoga Springs, NY – based in San Francisco, CA)
Name: (Coney Island) Freaktoberfest
Style: European Amber Lager / Oktoberfest . . . I think
ABV: 6.66%
Tasting Notes: Stored in the fridge and served in a pilsner glass. 1 pint 6 oz for $4.99
Aroma: Moderate malt aroma with no real hop nose to speak of. Very clean, as I would expect from a lager.
Appearance: Red, I am talking red velvet cake red. I have never seen any beer close to that color (and haven’t since). It does have a hint of copper color when held to light. Has a two-finger, light red/pinkish head that dissipates slowly and leaves a pretty heavy trail. Quite clear with visible rising bubbles.
Flavor: Smooth malty flavor prominent . . . more complex malt flavor than expected. Slight sweetness with some hop flavor near the finish. Finishes slightly dry with a touch of hop bitterness. The balance leans to the malty side.
Mouthfeel: Medium body and medium level of carbonation. It is smooth and creamy (for a lager especially) and has no lingering aftertaste.
Overall Impressions: Wow it is red! An easy drinking, enjoyable beer and good value (another good thing about Shmaltz brews). Higher in alcohol than typical in the style category. Looking back, it’s not the best Shmaltz beer that I have tried, but still nice.
Grade: B (in that range)
Coney Island Freaktoberfest
Decisions, decisions . . .
In order to have a steady stream of content to supplement the beer reviews, a long list of topics has been put to paper. Now I only need to decide what direction to go on what day of the week. Perhaps a dartboard or maybe drawing out of a hat is the best approach? I am open to suggestions.
While I figure all of that out, I bring you two beer related articles that I find pretty fascinating for completely different reasons.
If you have a friend that claims to be able to out drink any one or any thing, you may be able to call in a ringer. This furry guy might have your buddy beat . . . and it may have a slight drinking problem. You can probably file this in the useless trivia part of your brain, but it is pretty amazing.
Pass the peanuts
Would you rather have the metabolism of a shrew or be able to drink a beer brewed with 45 million year old critters? Coming soon to a bottle or tap near you (hopefully) is an ale like no other.
Look familiar?
Email: nighthops@gmail.com
