Good beers cheap: Grimbergen

Trip to Dave's BrewFarm this weekend.  So much fun, even though I was running absolutely on empty from the start.  By the end, the only thing keeping me up was the accordion player behind my chair at the German restaurant... but that's a story for another post.

A second in an occasional series that I always meant to be a little less occasional.... And I've been meaning to do this one for some time too.  One thing that beer nyerds -- excuse me, craft beer afficionados -- tend to fetishize is the Trappist style of beers.  There's the great photos in the brewing books of Rochefort's grand cathedral of a brewhouse, the pictures of monk-robe clad brewers there and at Westvleteren.  And of course the history and lore of Westmalle, the crazy deco ruins of Orval, and so forth.

And there is the fact that many of the classic abby styles of beer are very straightforward, simple recipes that are for many homebrewers awful hard to replicate.  It shouldn't be the case, but there it is.  It seems like there's magic in there somewhere.  (I actually think it's just proper yeast handling, but then again I've never made a dubbel that would hold a candle to Westmalle's, so I should talk.)

Hiding out at Thomas Liquor.
Good beer, budget price.

Anyway, three things should be kept in mind.  One is that, gorgeous as they often are, the Trappist appellation doesn't come cheap.  Chimay has wide availability I guess, but pick up a (small, 330 ml) bottle of Rochefort and it's going to cost you.  Less than it did a few years ago admittedly, but it will cost you nonetheless.  Second, while the Trappist beers are produced actually in the brewhouses of the Trappist monasteries, they are often produced by lay brewers rather than the monks themselves.  Third, there is a whole range of often really very nice "abbey" beers that fall in the same style range that are worth trying.

The abbey beers are affiliated, or licensed by, Belgian abbeys -- just not the Trappist ones.  Generally brewed off-site, this takes some of the "magical" aura away from them I guess.  Still, they can be gorgeous.  Maredsous in particular is one of my favorites.

For some reason, it recently hit me that Grimbergen (produced for the Abdij von Grimbergen by Alken-Maes) was becoming widely available around here, and way cheap by Belgian beer standards.  Like about half the price of cheap Trappist.  The Blonde and the Dubbel are the two I see in bottle shops, so I decided to pick them up and give them a formal tasting.  So here with it:

• Grimbergen Blonde (6.7% abv).  Light golden in color, with a dense white head.  Really full carbonation, but not as outrageous as some Belgian beers, and less central to the overall character as with some Belgian blonde beers in particular.  Bouquet is somewhat restrained, slightly fruity and spicy.  It smells a bit like cut apple, with moderate acidity and ester coming through the carbonation.  In flavor, the spiciness comes across as white pepper along with some restrained sweetness from the alcohol.  Full, prickly carbonation.  There's a hint of apple-like pils malt in the flavor too -- almost like a Chardonnay -- and a little hop bite at the end.  The alcohol to me seems a little to forward for a 6.5% beer in this style.  The yeast-derived spiciness is nice but just a touch high and and there's a little harsh, astringent note at the end that mars it.  Overall, a really nice beer, though not outrageously good.  
• Grimbergen Double (6.5% abv).  Very pretty brown with red highlights, and astounding clarity.  Lowish tan head.  It has a sweet malt aroma, with a prominent caramelized sugar character that's classic for the style. Faint hop.  Fruity esters -- fig, plum.  Full carbonation gives way to hop bite and tannin, then a hint of fruity/spicy Belgian yeast character.  In both the flavor and aroma, there's a floral rose petal note and black pepper, both driven up by full carbonation.  The finish seems hoppier than the initial taste -- this is definitely more bitter than some dubbels.  Really good.

Overall, these beers stack up well.  They are not as good as some of the best in the style -- in particular, there's a bit of a harsh tannic bite in both that I don't see in the best examples.  On the other hand, the dubbel in particular I think is still really good, and at about $2.50 in these parts, well worth having around.  Scenario: you're having a party.  You're known as the "beer guy."  Friends expect you to stock impressive beer, but you're unwilling to throw down $6 per bottle for Trappist beers only to see some fools pop the cap and swill from the bottle.  What to do?  Grimbergen, baby.  That's what.

American pilsners, v. 2

Pilsners get no real love from American beer geeks.  Maybe a bit at the high end -- the ones that aim for the more aggressively hopped German or Bohemian styles.  But even that's a bit of a stretch for American brewers who for better or worse often saw themselves as moving away from the dumbed down mass-market American versions of the style.

Don't get me wrong, I like a PBR now and again, but they are beers to throw down not to savor.  So it was a surprise to find that some of the new American "pilsners" are really kind of tastier versions of this easy-drinking end of the style.  Really for BJCP judges, these would be maybe premium light lagers rather than pilsners proper.  Full Sail's Session Lager is already a favorite of mine in this category, but in tasting a bunch of beers labeled as pilsners, a couple of others stood.  Call them surprisingly tasty not-quite pilsners.

• Red Hook Rope Swing (US, 5.3%)  They call this a "summer pilsner."  It's a really nice easy-drinking beer, though it poses a bit of a conundrum.  It's somewhere between a pilsner and an English-style summer beer.  The beer has a light golden color, with a slight haze and solid carbonation.  In the aroma it has a light fruity ester and almost an orangey hop note -- both very "English" -- along with the clean malt.  It doesn't scream "pils malt" but at least it's a very clean 2-row malt.  Similar profile in the flavor with a clean malt flavor, a hint of orange and pear-like ester, then a quick hit of bitterness.  The floral hop flavor stays into the finish.  This one is not dry as pilsners often are, but has a touch of sweetness without being heavy.  It's a really nice, complex beer but not a traditional pilsner at all.  The website lists the hops as Saaz, but I would have thought Goldings for sure.  Red Hook also say it's 25 IBU and 12.7 Plato, with malts listed as pale, carapils, Caramel and Munich.  Not by far the best as a pilsner beer, but it's a lighter beer with a lot of character.  I'll have to look for this again!

• New Belgium Blue Paddle (4.8%) A summertime seasonal from New Belgium, very refreshing beer and a bit of a surprise to me.  It's one of the lighter of the US pilsners in gravity.  Given this and its very light color, I thought this would be a little low on flavor.  The aroma didn't have very much going on; a faint malt note and that was about it.  But in the mouth there was a nice complex maltiness -- fat German pils malt, a bit of graham cracker like graininess, and a dry finish with a bit of a hop bite.  Again, not the number one pils, but an interesting beer.

By the way, a quick note on two continental pilsners that don't really fit established guidelines either.  Or at least not BJCP categories.  I'm not in favor of ever-proliferating categories like the Brewers' Association seems to be, but I also think that a lot of American homebrewers and beer judges don't really recognize that there are beers that are similar, but not quite the same as, some of these established style.  Two examples here too:

• Steigl Goldenbrau (Austria)  I love this beer.  It's marketed as simply a "lager" by the Steigl brewery, though they add that it's 12 degrees Plato (about 1.048, ie, classic strength) and lightly hopped.  Probably best considered as a helles by BJCP categories, unless you want to add yet another category - Salzburg style lager or something.  Full golden color and clean pils malt aroma with just a hint of sweetness.  Fat, full, dry malt profile that I just can't get enough of.  The touch of bitterness emerges at the end, just drying out the finish.  I think this one is drier and more pils like than the Steigl pils maybe, though I actually like that beer better.  It's an exceptionally lovely, delicate beer.  Which of course means the morons rate it a "B" on BeerAdvocate and a 28 on RateBeer.  I guess it's not a "craft beer."

• Karlovacko (Croatia) 500 ml.  Maybe this would be called an example of an Adriatic Pils or some such?  Just say it's in the Bohemian tradition I guess.  But this bottle has the flavor that almost all of the Croatian pilsners have.  I drank a lot of this stuff when I was there -- about 20 years ago now...good lordy I'm old.  Karlovac is inland a bit, not far from Zagreb.  Did I tell you the story about ingratiating myself with the traveling New Zealand national rugby team at the Zagreb bar since I was apparently the only one around who could figure out the local currency system? Another time maybe... Anyway the beer.  Not everyone will like it but it is typical of the area.  The aroma features pils malt and clean hops with more than a touch of sulphur.  A touch of the "green bottle aroma" which is actually kind of a feature of the beer, even locally, and not entirely unpleasant.  Flavor has the same malty/lagery/sulphury profile as the aroma.  The really full carbonation dries it out a bit.  Maybe 35ish IBUs, but the bitterness seems rounded rather than sharp.

American pilsners, v. 1

Hey all.  Warmer weather is rolling around.  I'm brewing a Munich style Helles as I write, just for something light and malty.  Father-in-law drank me dry on a pretty reasonable pilsner I had just the other week too.

Over the last many months I've been taking notes on a few of the craft brewed American pilsners that I've seen on the shelves.  Pretty scattershot, but it seemed as if there were quite a few new ones that I hadn't tried along with a few old standbys that I have.  It was also interesting to go through some of these beers with a group studying to take the BJCP exam for the first time as well -- it's one thing to suck a few of these beers down at a picnic, and its another to stop and think about them.  So here's my notes on a few, pulled together out of the chaos...call this the first in a short series.

GERMAN STYLE PILSNERS
There are a few American beers that aim squarely for the aggressively hopped, dry German style.  I love them, it's kind of fun to see other homebrewers and craft beer drinkers come back to them and realize how good they are.  While the brewers may put their own spin on it, and in some cases add an "American" twist too, these beers are very much within an established style.  Recognizing that "passion is not an ingredient," these are very good, clean, and refreshing without being boring in the least.

• Victory Prima Pils (US, 5.3% abv).  Snappy aroma - floral with a touch of citrus.  Fluffy and very long lasting head.  This beer is bitter to the level of the classic German pilsners, in the same range as the Schell's. This is one of the more aggressive German style pilsners available to American audiences.  Maybe 40-45 IBUs?  The clean malt makes it seem like more, actually.  The boatload of hops give it almost a soapy finish that some people really don't like.  Really nice beer, though it's lacking some of the malt presence of my favorite continental versions.

• Schell's Pils (US, 5.3%)  Bitter!  Really sharply bitter, at the level that German-style pilsners should be, I'd guess maybe close to 40 IBU based on this bottle, though it seems less on draft.  Pretty floral hop aroma, with a bit of vine-like greenness.  Clean pils malt in the aroma as well, though not the fat, pillowy malt of some German examples. I think I like the draft better -- this bottle is fresh, but has a bit of a steely tang in the finish that mars it a bit.  Not sure if this is from the water or just the hop bitterness contributing this.  I served this one to folks in the beer judging class we're doing and had them judge it blind.  They liked it less than the Victory, but the bitterness of both beers surprised them.

A couple of others worth mentioning that I liked very much but which were new to me.  The Left Hand looks like it's a year round brew.  The Full Sail was a one-off in a series, if you didn't try it you'll just have to take my word for it.

• Left Hand Polestar Pilsner (US, 5.5%) Very light color, straw rather than gold.  Slight haze. Clean malt flavor with a bit of depth to it.  Sharp bitterness, and floral hop on the finish.  This one is not a favorite, but it is a nice change of pace, the floral note is pronounced and makes it really stand out.  For the record, this one is very American in ingredients as well. They list ingredients as Weyermann pilsner malt along with American 2-row, and American versions of German hops -- Magnum, Mt Hood and Sterling.

• Full Sail "LTD Edition Lager" (US, 5.6%)  This was apparently #3 in their limited series. Full Sail's "Session" beers -- the lager and the dark -- are two of my favorite easy-drinking everyday lager beers.  This one is aimed squarely at the German pilsner style.  This can get lost in all the description so I'll say it clearly -- this one is REALLY GOOD.  Full gold color, relatively deep in color actually.  White head that settles quickly.  Full, rich, malty aroma even as soon as the bottle cap comes off.  Clean but fat lager malt with a hint of floral hop.  Maybe even a bit of American hop sharpness?  In the flavor, the bitterness sneaks up.  It comes a second after you expect it.  Very firm bitterness -- it's listed as 35 IBU, and I guessed about 40 based on the bite in the finish.  It has a bit of sweetness actually but the hops and carbonation make it finish dry. A little "soapy" in the finish from the hops.  Interesting that it tastes American -- the malt is fat but not "Euro."  Seems like I was right on that; website lists 2-row (presumably American), 35 IBU and Sterling hops.  Really nice beer.

Brew Dog Hardcore IPA

Another snowstorm here in bee-uutiful St Paul today, so everything on the agenda is cancelled. Now the kids' playdates are over, it's time to drink a beer.

Brew Dog: They are hardcore

I recently wrote a bit about Brew Dog and said something stupid to a friend about not being able to get it here. This friend reminded me that you can...for a price. It ain't cheap, but I thought I should give it a shot, so I picked up the Hardcore IPA, and I'll try to get some of the others soon.

4 hop cones???

The beer is listed as an "explicit imperial IPA", with 9.2% abv. There is an odd bit of marketing on the back for an IPA -- the lads at Brew Dog (sorry, that's "two humans and one canine companion") set out to impress with a listing of all of the stuff that went into the beer, including (they say) 2,204 grains of Maris Otter malt, 9.9 trillion yeast cells, and....4 hop cones.  Umm... do they mean four varieties?  Or does "hop cone" have a different meaning in the UK that I'm unaware of?

As for the beer itself, it's very fruity/malty in aroma, with background hops. It actually comes across in aroma more like what Americans tend to think of as "barley wine" rather than "IPA", though admittedly there's a blurry line between them sometimes. The malt side of the aroma is plum/prune/toffee, with a sort of dried apricot ester. The hops are like orange, apricot and pineapple more than the punch of grapefruit/pine that typically mark US versions. It's definitely more "IPA" in flavor, with a big bitter kick in the teeth right up front.  It's a big beer but it's nicely attenuated. It's a bit full in the mouth but it's dry enough to actually drink a bit of it. Malt stays in the background in the flavor though again its a fuller, richer malt profile than many of the US versions. Nice, though I'm not sure it will bump Maharaja out of my fridge.  (Wife adds "This is good.  Mmmm-mmm-mmmmm.")

Good beers cheap: Zywiec Porter

The first of an occasional series, mostly for the hell of it.  I like Garrett Oliver's point that with beer, an average person can enjoy the best in the world without going broke.  Still, there's a bit of snobbery with us too -- often "rare and expensive" is understood to mean "good."  And it's true: there's good beer, and there's cheap beer.  But sometimes good beer comes relatively cheap.  Case in point:

 Zywiec Porter (9.5% abv, 550 ml bottle, $2.49 at Ale Jail in St Paul). It's a Polish beer from the Zywiec brewery.  Apparently a brewery with some history, though with the oddly Engrish -- or maybe just marketingese -- slogan on the bottle: "Faithful to the Tradition; Recipe Since 1881."  Okay, which recipe exactly?  (Zyweic is owned by the Heineken Group, though seems a bit unloved -- the Heineken website's holdings list has it as "ywiec".)

There's some confusion on ratebeer and the like about whether this is "really" a porter or not.  This is an example of a historic style known as "Baltic Porter" -- that is, beer in more or less in the roasty, dark, English-derived style we know as "porter" but bigger and usually fermented with lager yeasts at cold, lager-appropriate temperatures.  As a consequence, Baltic porters typically have the smooth, lager characteristics of strong bock beers combined with the roastiness of porter ales.

As for Zywiec itself.  It's dark brown though not opaque; brilliantly clear with garnet highlights and a brown/tan head. In the aroma it's got a hint of caramel, backed up by clean maltiness and a whiff of alcohol.  The flavor is roasty/malty and lager-like with a firm bitterness.  It's coffee-roast, plum and raisin at first, then hints of caramel sweetness, and finally a long bitter finish.  ("Smoky and molasses" says the wife; she's right of course. "I like it," she adds. "Why are you taking that down, is this going on the blog thing?" Umm, yes.) It's 9.5%, so there is a bit of alcohol warmth too.  I'm guessing there's a fair bit of sugar in the "recipe since 1881" -- it seems lean going down, though it remains a bit sticky on the lips afterward.

Raw assessment: good beer.  Rescored on the "good beer cheap" curve for the fact that I picked it up for $2.49 (500 ml) at Ale Jail in St. Paul: awesome.

Hook Norton

Today the snow was falling. Hard. Fletty’s scotchy/chili fest cancelled. Buses not running. Drifts up to my waist, and enough snow piled up in the back that only a two-foot run of my back fence is still visible. So what to do? Get some work done. Make pizza dough. Drink beer.

That's my grill under there.

I picked up a couple of Hook Norton’s beers at Ale Jail, and I’ve been meaning to try them.  It’s an Oxfordshire brewery I’ve heard a lot about, but I’ve never had the opportunity to try the beers before, and I’ve never seen them around here.

• Hooky Bitter (bottle, 3.6%)  Beautiful "juicy" orange hop aroma.  Hint of sweet malt.  Medium copper color with a slight haze (bottle conditioned; I kicked up some of the yeast sediment.)  Low head.  Aroma is great, quite a lot like Fuller's actually.  Mouthfeel is also great: light, very easy to drink.  Backed up by clean malt flavors -- slightly dry/toasty malt with a touch of caramel-like sweetness.  Then bracing hop bitterness which carries through to the finish. The hop is much more in the aroma and bitterness than flavor, though some orange and grassy-hay like notes come through.  Wish I knew what the hops were here -- Challenger and first gold maybe? 

• Hooky Gold (bottle, 4.2%)  Light in color -- golden, with a fluffy white head.  Same orangey/juicy aroma with a touch of caramel-sweetness.  They say they've included American hops, and this one does have a touch more of tangerine-like character.  Not grapefruit or pine though.  The hop aroma is really up front.  It's a quenching beer, with soft, fat malt in the first sip, and then drying and bitter in the finish.  Hop flavor is much more pronounced in this beer.  Some fruity esters, but most of the fruitiness is coming from the hops.  Orange/tangerine in the flavor as well.   (No it's not the suggestion from the oranges on the table, try it and you'll see.)  Top notch, this is a great beer.  It has something of the same hop character as Mirror Pond from Deschutes.  Maybe it's Cascades they've layered in?  Lovely.  Will have to remember to drink more of this and try to come up with a clone recipe if I can...