I mentioned my frustration this weekend on not finding the Dogfish Head at Whole Foods, but this didn’t mean I came home empty handed. I searched through their selection, and decided to go with a new one to me, Full Sail’s Nut Brown Ale, a selection from their Brewmasters Reserve. 

When it comes to commercial nut brown ales, you’ve got some pretty stiff competition. Samuel Smith’s is available just about everywhere and is fantastic. Rogue’s Hazlenut Brown Nectar is harder to find, but one of my all-time favorites. I was a little hesitant to even try Full Sail’s attempt, since I wasn’t sure I could taste it objectively.

I opened it up as soon as I got home, and realized I started on the wrong foot. I was preparing a stir fry for dinner, and nut brown ale deserves something more hearty. The beer poured with a huge head, forcing me to leave a little in the bottle. The aroma and taste were fairly similar, and I can’t say I was excited about both. What I got from both was a roasted malt bitterness that overpowered the beer. Not too strong at all, this beer feels like it was deigned as a session beer, but is a little rough around the edges to want to reach for a second bottle after finishing the first.

In the end, Full Sail’s Nut Brown Ale suffers from the same issue I worried about initially. I passed over the Rogue Hazlenut and Sam Smith on the same shelf to give this new one a try. Was it a bad beer? Not at all, but when you consider your options, I find it hard to imagine reaching for this one again.

It’s been a long week.  Lots of craziness in my life, but I knew Dogfish Head was arriving in the Bay Area and I would be able to purchase some.  After a long day, a 60 Minute IPA was going to be fantastic.  Well, the theme of the week continues. 

I had heard that Sonoma County would start receiving the lineup from Dogfish Head in May.  In anticipation, I had called ahead to Whole Foods to see when I could get my hand on the tasty brews.  I was told that this week would be the week.  Thanks to my wonderful week, I almost forgot to swing by the store.

I got there right after work, needing a proper way to start the weekend.  I scanned the aisle and saw nothing but the usual suspects.  I searched through the end caps and the displays, no Dogfish Head.  I began to panic.  Finally, before hyperventilating, I found Omar, “the beer guy.”

Omar had bad news, no Dogfish Head at that location.  I have to say something now.  I had a long week, and this sent my hopes crashing down.  I may have been a bit of an ass to Omar, and I need to apologize for that.  Omar was very willing to help, and it wasn’t his fault that a few ounces of beer didn’t make the trip from Delaware to California.  After some phone calls, Omar told me Whole Foods had dropped the ball, and distribution wasn’t in place.

The rumor was that BevMo had it in stock, but a phone call there proved their shelves were empty as well.  This was the same story for Oliver’s Market and Bottle Barn.  I have come to the conclusion that there is no Dogfish Head in Sonoma County.

For all of those who may be able to fix this problem, the Sonoma County distributer is Morris Distributing.  Please, contact them, and let’s all raise a pint of Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA as son as possible.

As usual, thanks to William Brand for the info on distribution.

Beer today, specifically West Coast beer, can really get in your face.  Arrogant Bastard slaps you around and calls you names, and you like it.  Sonoma County IPAs aren’t just big, but ridiculously hoppy, leaving you drowsy not from just from the huge amounts of alcohol, but from the battle that just took place with your taste buds.  So when I reached for IPA Nectar, I got ready, I did my stretches, slapped my face a few times, and stared that bottle down.  It’s go time! 

After all this preparation, IPA Nectar was a breathe of fresh air.  I’m not talking about the dry hopped aroma, and smooth drinkability of this beer.  I’m also not talking about the sweetness of the malt that rimds me of oranges and honey.  What’s so refreshing about this IPA is that it’s so good, so easy to drink, but full of flavor and character without bashing you on the head with a baseball bat made of high alpha hops and alcohol.

Firestone Walker has produced the Nectar Ales for some time now, and their commitment to producing fine beers is evident.  With the whole extreme trend among brewers pushing the envelope of what could be squeezed into a beer, it’s nice to see a brewery who is innovative (see what they do with barrel aging) but still has a strong base in crafting a quality brew.  Sure, IPA Nectar would make a few Brits cough and wheeze compared to their conservative IPA, but this is America, and we need a little more.

I have to admit, I didn’t sit back and slowly enjoy this one for very long.  I took large gulps and knocked it back rather quickly, disappointed that I only bought one.  I’m guessing I’ll have to go buy another, or better yet, dive into another brew from the Nectar Ales line that I haven’t tried in some time.

The saga continues. I gave you the recipe, talked about the brew, even let you know when I transfered. Now, Rats in the Attic is out of the closet and into the bottle, which is being kept in the same closet.

About 10 days prior, I added an ounce of cascade hops to the secondary. I had intended to bottle this weekend at the 7 day mark, but that didn’t happen. A few extra days in the secondary never hurt anything. It wasn’t until Tuesday night that I was able to get the brew into the bottle and sneak a first taste of my summer pale ale.

Considering I’ve brewed this beer about 5 times now, I think it goes without saying that I like this beer. Each time I’ve brewed it, I’ve played with the ingredients a little, changed a boil time a bit, trying to perfect my own little pale ale. As far as an extract version goes, I think I’m done.

Straight out of the bottling bucket, this pale ale is nice and sweet. It appears to be more orange than gold and the dry hopping really adds to the aroma and flavor. The lemon zest and cascade hops play off the sweetness and keep the beer light and refreshing. One thing I noticed though, is this really a pale ale? For all of my worry about a low specific gravity, I’m thinking I may have brewed an IPA. Either way it tastes fantastic and I’m anxious to try it after 2 weeks in the bottle. Also, I love the sparkle in the beer of all the yeast.

Total take from this batch, 10 16-oz EZ cap bottles, 20 22-oz bombers and 6 12-oz bottles. Not a bad haul if you ask me.

Pictured: My bottling station

In my house, summer and Boston mean one thing: the Red Sox.  My wife loves the Red Sox.  It’s all Big Papi, Manny being Manny and Jason Varitek until the last game is played.  Being a Giants fan, I am looking for some way to change this, even slightly.  My solution, as usual, was to buy beer.  I brought home a bottle of Sam Adams Summer Ale to try and change the perception of what summertime in Boston should bring to mind. 

I read the label first to see what Sam Adams idea of a Summer Ale would be.  It claims to be a wheat ale with lemon zest and “renaissance herbs.”  This intrigued me a little, could this be a gruit ale?  I did some cursory investigating but got no answers.  My guess is that it contains some of the herbs that make up gruit, but I couldn’t be certain.

On to the beer.  I’ve mentioned that I had wheat beers pegged wrong in the past.  They tasted like old socks to me until I started tasting some truly crisp refreshing beers.  Unfortunately, this one brought back that old sock flavor.  The lemon zest definitely added a refreshing aspect to the beer.  It wasn’t bad, very easy to drink, but I just didn’t like the funk that it brought to mind.  My wife, on the other hand, loved it.

So now, in my house, when someone mentions summer in Boston, I will be obliged to grab a Sam Adams Summer Ale and sit down to a Red Sox game.  Yes honey, I love this beer.  No honey, I can’t believe the Yankees.

Note:  I love baseball, so the act that wife loves baseball is a huge bonus.

Cinco de Mayo is always a fun event.  For me, it’s a good excuse to break out to treat my wife to my favorite Mexican recipes.  This year we went with tacos and homemade salsa and guacamole.  You have to wash that down with a special kind of brew.  No, not a double IPA, not a barleywine, or an Imperial Stout.  We’re going simple this time, with some Mexican lagers. 

As you can tell, I’ve been a big fan of hitting Trader Joe’s to try their exclusive beers.  Mainly, the price is right, and with a respectable list of brewers behind their labels, it’s worth a shot.  This time I reached for the Trader José bottles.  For $1 per bottle, it’s worth a shot, right?

As you can see, these are essentially copies of a Corona and Modelo Negro.  Being Cinco de Mayo, I figured the Corona wannabe should be served with salt and a lime.  I have to say, this really wasn’t a bad beer.  I prefer this to Corona, as it has the same essence as Corona, minus the that typical “skunk” that the clear bottle champion is known for.  Very easy to drink and a little on the sweet side (although that may have just been the lime), this steps up there with Modelo Especial for my choice of light Mexican lager.

Now it’s time for the dark lager.  In college, friends of mine would meet at La Val’s in North Berkeley for $5 pitchers of Dos Equis amber during Happy Hour, so I have a special place in my heart for my dark Mexican cousins.  Unfortunately, this dark lager is a complete bust.  Caramel sweet, no hop finish (not that I expected much), this beer resembles cola more than beer.  I am sure this would go over well with a bunch of drunk high school students but I couldn’t finish my glass.

So the guacamole is gone, as are the $2 I invested in my beer.  One was a dud, but the lager was a success.  I would recommend this to anyone looking for a Mexican lager without that funk that typically defines the style.

In case anyone was wondering, this one was brewed by Cervecería Mexicana a division of MolsonCoors. I know…I know.

Finding the right beer is usually the easy part, especially today.  Craft beer selections are expanding just about everywhere you turn, but are you pouring that beer into the right glass?  Did you know beer has a right glass? 

There are as many glasses to serve beer in as there are beers.  There are stories from travelers to Belgium of bars refusing to serve a specific beer if the proper glass isn’t available.  I don’t think we need to take it to that extreme, especially when drinking at home, but given the thought we put into drinking beer (and the enjoyment we get out of it), finding a glass that can enhance your beer only seems appropriate.

Over the years I’ve collected my fair share of glasses, not knowing anything about the purpose of the glass beyond holding a volume of beer.  As I’ve learned more about beer, I’ve also learned more about the glasses, and actually made an attempt to broaden my selection of glassware.

So what’s the difference?  It’s fairly complicated, and if I were to go into long descriptions, I am sure I would lose many readers and to be honest, I really don’t know.  What I do do know are the basics.  Light, subtle beers typically go in a tall slender glass.  Big, burly beers, go best is a wide rimmed glass.

My three go-to-glasses are in the middle row, starting on the left.  I actually have four go-to glasses, but for some reason I didn’t take a picture of my lager glass.  Basically, as the beer gets darker, stronger, I move to the right.  The lager glass is great for lighter lagers while the Chimay goblet is better suited for barleywines and Belgians.

My favorite glass is my Arrogant Bastard glass.  Not sure what you would call it, but it’s a combination of a classic pint and a pilsner flute with a short stem.  Appropriately, it can hold 22 ounces, and really suits big malty Double IPA, strong ales, and anything else loaded with hops and alcohol that might come in a 22 oz bomber.

Still looking to add to my collection.  For those barleywines, I would like to get a nice beer drinking snifter.  I find brandy snifters, but they are so thin and delicate.  A beer glass should have a little more girth.  I’m also looking for a tulip glass for drinking Belgians.  Unfortunately, nobody knows what this is, and I have yet to find one in a store.  Right now my options are buying one online for $5 a pop plus shipping, or stealing one from Russian River (don’t worry Vinnie, I won’t do that).  I also need a better pint glass, but that’s something that can wait.

I realize none of this helps you, the reader, so I have included some other resources.  Ratebeer will list the glassware for whichever beer you’re drinking if you search for the brew.  They also have a general glassware article that address each style of glass.  Not a fan of Ratebeer and prefer Beer Advocate?  Don’t worry, they have you covered as well.  Beer Advocate’s glassware resource is a little more technical and includes recommended styles for each style of glass.  Realbeer has a quick rundown for the entry level beer glass collector.

If all you have is a pint glass, so be it, but with the right glass, you really can show off some of the features of a beer.  Whether it’s a crystal clear pilsner showing off it’s trademark appearance in a skinny flute, or a wide mouth goblet letting the complex aromas and flavors open up in the wide bowl, each glass and beer has a strength.  See if you can notice the difference.

The Session is a coordinated event among beer bloggers where a selected beer blog chooses a theme and we all write about it on the first Friday of the month. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time, but this is the first time I have finally gotten around to it. The theme for this month is “How did it all start for you?” The host for this months Session is Boak and Bailey. The Session was first conceived by Appellation Beer.

My story starts in Berkeley. I was a freshman, not even 18 and some of my older friends invited me to happy hour at a local beer garden. I wasn’t much of a beer drinker at the time, I thought it was disgusting actually, but I was in a new city looking to make new friends and if beer was the beverage of the day, then so be it.

Many pitchers were ordered for our table, among them was Boont Amber Ale. I had never had a beer like it. It was rich and malty. There was a bitterness that I hadn’t experienced before that caught me off guard at first, but encouraged me to drink more. That night was dedicated to Boont, and I drank plenty of it, but I was curious. If Boont was so good, what about the other 20 or so beers they had available at this location? They had to be good as well.

This started my education in microbrews. I kept going back, and insisted on trying something new everytime. My curiosity eventually spread to local grocery stores. Once my friends and I had tried everything on the shelves at Safeway, we moved to Andronico’s, and eventually JV, my first experience with a warehouse liquor store. Through college I tried countless beers, and many of them were great. But no matter how many beers I try, it all traces back to a pint of Boont on a sunny afternoon in Berkeley.

Polygamy is something I know nothing about. I have one wife, and I like it that way. With the recent news about the FLDS compund in Texas, you might wonder, what’s the deal with polygamists? I watched Big Love, and while I was entertained, my questions remained. So I turned the the answer to all of life’s problms, and cracked a bottle of Polygamy Porter from Wasatch Brew Pub.

I have no idea how I originally heard of this beer, but I know the wife and I got a laugh out of the slogans “Bring some home for the wives” and Why have just one?”. The other day when checking in on a sick neighbor I noticed a 6-pack on the corner of the kitchen, it was a little dusty but I recognized the label. It was Polygamy Porter. My neighbor’s sister is from Utah, and since she would be on her way to visit shortly, he told me to take the 6-pack and enjoy it. So I did.

I have to be honest, Utah beer isn’t my idea of a fun time. Strict laws prohibit “strong” beers, and Polygamy weighs in at a measly 4.2% ABV. At the recent World Beer Cup, Polygamy Porter took home a Silver Medal, so I had to give it a fair shot.

It pours very dark with a thin head. The aroma is very sweet and is a good preview of the flavor. Raisins and brown sugar come to mind, but there’s something else I can’t put my finger on. It’s an earthy, sweet flavor that stumped my wife as well. Not much in terms of hops at all. It drinks easy, fairly thin and light. Not sure if this qualifies as a porter, or if a porter is just the best way to describe a dark ale that’s not too strong.

Not a bad beer for what it is, probably not going to go out of my way to get more. I still find the label and marketing associated with this beer to be hilarious, and good joke can go a long way. Every beer is worth trying, but I wouldn’t save a bottle of this for a tasting dinner.

Previously I wrote about the opening of Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol. It has been a long time waiting to walk through the doors of Dean Biersch’s latest venture, and what better way to experience it than with Dean himself. Along with resident sommelier Anastasy, I got a nice look around the place as well as a minute to talk with the minds behind the new tavern and even sample a couple beers.

I arrived a little early to my lunch meeting and peeked around the place. The first thing I noticed is the outside deck was gone. When you come through the doors, you are truly in a tavern. Despite a nice sunny day outside, its dim and cool inside, a perfect place to sit back and relax with friends over some beers. The place is very stylish without coming off as trendy and fickle.

After a brief introduction with Dean, ‘Stasy showed me around the place, giving me the tour of the outside patio, featuring live acoustic music on the weekends, as well as the Juke Joint Abbey, their live music venue. In the new patio is a new fountain surrounded by couches as well as outside dining. This is a huge improvement over the previous patio area under the Sebastopol Brewing Company. What was an ignored, leftover area is now the place to be.

We continued the tour around back and into the brew area. The in-house brew setup is a 10 barrel system but has not been fully installed yet. Given the early success of the tavern, I got the impression that the system may not be able to handle the demands of the thirsty consumer, so we’ll have to stay tuned to see what happens here. I was also told to expect to see cask ales coming to the tavern, which is an exciting development for sure.

From there we made our way back to the bar. I have to say, I love the taps. Very cool system. The labels are backlit and in a bubble-looking casing. ‘Stasy told me the system is made in the Netherlands and there’s still some lag time getting labels made and such, but I have to say, it’s a very cool tap, and I want one.

But a tap is only as good as the beer it serves. The taps are loaded with quality beers, lots of local representation as well as some very nice imports. Don’t know anything about beer? There is a beer bible on the table, giving descriptions of the beers, the glasses they will be served in and recommendations of other beers. The Bible also lists the bottled beers and gives you a glossary and an introduction to how to taste beer, and what to look for. ‘Stasy seems to have his eye on getting some hard to find beers onto the taps here, so keep checking back with them, as there are sure to be some surprises down the road.

When asked what I would like to drink, I looked over the selections, but knew I had to go with the house brews. The Kellerbier and Dunkleweizen are brewed by Gordon Biersch. I was very excited to hear that the Tavern Ale is brewed by Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing, but as excited as I was, I was just as disappointed to find that it was all gone. I started with the Keller, which is an unfiltered Pilsner. I liked this beer a lot. The unfiltered beer is very different from your typical filtered Pilsner; it seems more alive, more vibrant, very tasty beer. I commented on how accessible this would be to the average beer drinker.

As a sausage platter arrived, I was served up the Dunkle. This is also unfiltered and again, the beer comes to life. This one started to get me. For 2 in the afternoon, two beers in my stomach and slowly working on a late lunch, I needed to slow things down a bit. Thankfully, Dean and ‘Stasy were great conversation.

Speaking with Dean I found a guy who is as crazy about beer as anyone I’ve met. We’ve all day-dreamed about the bar we’d open, stocked with out favorite beers, and for me, flat screens with sports, a pool table and a hop lined patio. Well, Dean had his dream and opened it. Inspired by the way back when of Mendocino Brewing, where the beer was great, the food sucked, and you could mingle with bikers or J. Geils, Dean brought together his love of beer, food and music and created Hopmonk. Talking to him, you understand that none of these elements is more important than the next, it all has to be up to his standard.

I walked in expecting to ask specific questions and get specific answers, but what I ended up getting was three guys just talking about beer. The entire place has the same laid back feel. There’s a lot of work put into Hopmonk, menu recommendations, proper glassware, wide selection of fine beers, but you come away feeling like it’s just so easy. Dean and company have done a great job. Hopmonk is inviting and accessible to casual drinkers as well as “beer geeks” like me. I can tell, I’ll be spending some more time in the tavern and I’m looking forward to what Dean and ‘Stasy have in store.

Thanks to Lani for helping organize all of this. People ask me how I got to have lunch with Dean, and she’s the answer.