99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Iniquity, by Southern Tier

Foam, color and flavor are what make Iniquity stand out in the over-crowded field of Imperial IPAs. It's a wildly impressive beer, cleverly brewed to assert true individuality by focusing on aspects that other brewers have overlooked.

Imperial IPAs (or double IPAs) are an American innovation created by the extreme school of brewing. If hops are good, let's add more! If higher strength is good, let's make it stronger! More, more, more. I don't want to imply that the many great imperial IPAs on our shelves aren't well-crafted, nor do I want to deny that the best ones demonstrate a sneaky balance, but I will say that Imperial India Pale Ale is not a variety typified by nuance or subtlety. Make a strong pale ale, toss in hops until your arms are sore, and you have a pretty typical Imperial IPA.

When you open a bottle of Iniquity, you get the whiff of hop aroma that comes with most well-brewed Imperial IPAs. American hops tend to have a citrusy and piney arome, and that's what you get here, with a bit of chocolate in the background.

When you pour the beer, though, Iniquity asserts its individuality in two ways. First, it's very dark brown, instead of the more typical amber of an IPA. It looks like a porter, but smells like an IPA.

And the head is like tan whipped cream. Most IPAs have the malt and hops to sustain a great head of foam, but this one would not fade away as most of them do. Iniquity will give you a beer mustache, and it's one you'll want to lick off instead of wipe off.

Let's take a second to think about beer foam. For most of us, it seems almost irrelevant to the beer-drinking experience. Some foam assures us our beer is not flat, but too much foam robs our glass of the beer itself. As long as it's there but not too thick, nobody really cares about the foam.

But there's a lot more to learn about foam. Foam controls the release of aromatics that get caught up in those tiny bubbles, so a good, long lasting head actually increases the flavor you'll be getting from each sip. Foam also is an indication of the richness of the beer - a thin beer without much protein or hops will tend to have a foam that bounds up and quickly dissipates, like the foam on a soft drink. A good stand of foam is a promise and a benefit for most beers. Would Guinness be Guinness without that rich, creamy head?

One way of telling that you've got well-made beer foam is watching what happens on the side of the glass. A great glass of beer will show rings on the side from the levels of each drink. Between the rings, a "Belgian lace" will look like spiderwebs between the levels.

Iniquity's foam was fantastic. Because the dark beer contrasts so well with the light-tan head, the foam puts on a show that might not be as noticeable in a lighter-colored beer.

And the color is another trick that the brewers play on you. It is simply impossible to drink this beer and not taste some of the characteristics of a stout. Coffee, chocolate, caramel, roastiness, maybe even some dark fruits might come to mind. Except, the more I drank the beer and concentrated, the less I tasted those things. A touch of those flavors remained, but it was subtle.

I believe that the brewers at Southern Tier made me taste their beer with my eyes. When I looked at this dark brown beer, I tasted dark brown beer, even though my palate wasn't really getting very much of it. The next time I buy a bottle of this, I'm going to do a blind taste test, and further explore the disconnect. Again, the dark notes are there, but there's much less to that picture than meets the eye.

Finally, the flavor. You really taste the hops, but you aren't assaulted by their bitterness. Iniquity has the hop flavor and aroma of a beer that would curl your hair with bitterness, but the bite just doesn't show up. Instead, you have a pleasant, citrusy flavor balanced with a malt profile that is solid but not filling. The label tells us that they use chinook and cascade hops in the boil, willamette in a hopback (kind of a hop chamber that the beer runs through between the boiling kettle and the fermentation vessel) and cascade and centennial for dry hops (hops added to the fermentation vessel after most of the fermenting is complete). The hopback and dry hops are where all that hop flavor comes from - because those hops are not boiled, their finer aromatics aren't driven off, and the bitter oils don't get a chance to get isomerized (dissolved) into the beer.

Iniquity is an easy-drinking 9% beer, which may explain the name. I bought a 22 ounce bottle of it at Lucas Liquors months ago - I'll be keeping my eyes out for more.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Stevens Point Burly Brown

Brown ales are an under-appreciated class of beers. They don't get attention because they don't push the extremes. They aren't as hoppy as India Pale Ales, they aren't as dark as porters or stouts, and they aren't as malty as the higher scotch ales. When well-crafted, though, they find that sweet spot, that balance, that makes them truly special.

Stevens Point Burly Brown is, unfortunately, not one of the greats. Pouring a dark copper, the brilliantly clear beer comes in at the light end of the color guidelines for a proper American Brown. The aroma, though, is superb - malty with just a tingle of hops, and a bit of chocolate.

The flavor is surprisingly soft, though. The scent's promise of a rich, malty beer is not fully delivered by the beer itself. Instead, you get a light-bodied, rather bland caramel taste, without the roasty or chocolate notes that add some backbone to a well-made brown ale.

The hops of a typical American brown ale were absent along with the darker malts. While a brown ale should never by dominated by hops, a great one will demonstrate the brewer's ability to use hop bitterness to balance the malt, and hop flavor to add piquant zestiness to the malt. Point's Burly Brown just doesn't go there - a restrained hand with the hops manages to avoid cloying sweetness, but fails to deliver any excitement.

It's not a bad beer at all. I might like it more if it were labeled as an amber ale - it's really a lighter beer in color, taste and body than I expect from a well-made brown. There are certainly better brown ales out there; try Abita Turbo Dog or Moose Drool.

O'Fallon Brewery Tasting at Gomer's South

Tony Caradonna of O'Fallon Brewery brought his beers to Gomer's South yesterday evening, and I met two of my beer-loving friends there to sample the line-up. (If you're from St. Louis, you'll want to know that Tony granduated from St. Mary's High School in 1975. If you're not from St. Louis, you don't understand the fascination with high school provenance, but it means a lot to those of us who are. If you think that's just a personal quirk of mine, note that it appears in the second line of his bio. If you look at his staff profiles, everyone who grew up in St. Louis mentions his or her high school at the top, while none of those from out of town mentions the name of his or her high school. What can I say? It's a regional thang.)

As beer-tastings go, this was a casual affair, standing around a counter sipping samples from tiny mouthwash cups. We sampled 6 beers, and they were placed in a thoughtful order. No formal presentation, but the brewer was there to answer questions.

First came O'Fallon Gold. Obviously intended to be a crowd-pleaser, it is lightly hopped, smooth and, frankly, kind of bland. It's not a bad beer at all - I didn't find any flaws with it, and it might be kind of interesting to taste it alongside other brewers' "entry level" beers. An ounce or so of this was plenty to get the idea, though, and then it was upward toward the more interesting offerings.

Next up was O'Fallon Wheat, and it was a clean, basic American wheat beer. Obviously intended to be a crowd-pleaser, it is lightly hopped, smooth and, frankly, kind of bland. It's not a bad beer at all - I didn't find any flaws with it, and it might be kind of interesting to taste it alongside other brewers' "entry level" beers. An ounce or so of this was plenty to get the idea, though, and then it was upward toward the more interesting offerings. Yes, I know I just repeated myself, but the shoe fits. In this case, it might be interesting to try it in comparison to Boulevard Wheat.

On second thought, American wheat is one of my least favorite styles, so why attempt to differentiate between two very competently made, commercially successful beers made by great Missouri brewers? I am thankful that each of them brings in revenue to subsidize the more experimental beers that thrill beer geeks like me. So what if I don't like American wheat beers? Lots of people do, and Missouri produces two excellent, well-brewed versions.

The third beer of the evening was O'Fallon 5-Day IPA. This is the one I bought to take home - well-balanced with hops and malt, it is a great example of an excellent beer that isn't trying to set any records. Too many brewers use their IPAs as entries in a hops arms race, competing to melt your face with overwhelming hop bitterness, flavor and aroma. 5-Day IPA brings a little detente to the IPA world, with a tasty but balanced approach that leads you to say, "I think I'll have another," instead of simply, "Whoa, what just hit me?". This is a really good beer, and it could easily become one of my regulars.

O’Fallon Smoked Porter came next, and it came as a jolt. I'd reviewed this beer 3 years ago in my "99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog" series, and I think I enjoyed that bottle more. The smoke in the beer last night was overwhelming - it tasted like liquid barbecue. Perhaps the bottle I reviewed earlier had aged a bit - aging tends to smooth out strong flavors, and my prior review mentions a slightly tart and acidic aftertaste, which could be a sign of age, and which would have been overwhelmed by the smoke in last night's sample. Even though the beer didn't rank among my favorites last night, it's great to see brewers trying new things and expanding the catalog of beer tastes we can find in our stores.

The fifth beer was O'Fallon Whiskey Barrel Smoked Porter. I wish I had bought a bottle of this to try by itself. As it was, coming right on the heels of the super-smokey Smoked Porter, I was unable to give it a proper tasting. There was definitely smoke there, but I couldn't tell how much of it was due to overlap from the prior beer, and how much was in the sample I was tasting. I picked up on vanilla and maybe even a little honey flavor, but that's about all I'm going to say about this beer until I get a chance to really experience it. I will say, though, that it seemed to have a lot of complexity and that it's a beer I look forward to trying again.

Finally, we closed out on one of O'Fallon's seasonal offerings, O’Fallon Cherry Chocolate Beer. This tasted amazingly similar to those chocolate covered cherries my mother used to get when I was a kid; I wonder if Tony's mom shopped at the same store. I'd never want to plow through a six pack of this beer, but it's a pleasant surprise and, once again, O'Fallon is pushing the limits of what you might expect a bottle of beer to hold. It was also interesting to me that the base beer on this confection is actually a dark wheat, instead of the more typical porter or stout. I would love to see how he makes this beer!

O'Fallon Brewery has a 15 barrel system, which they are using to produce 3,000+ barrels a year. They've been quietly building their reputation and they're the second largest American brewery in the St. Louis area (now that AB has been sold to foreign interests). They recently got their license to produce stronger beers, so look for them to start experimenting even more in the coming years.

(If you're interested in hearing more about tasting opportunities at Gomer's, sign up for their newsletters here.)

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Baltika #6 Porter

Winter has arrived, and it is time to pour a dark, rich, complex, warming beer. For $1.99, you can have 16.9 ounces of that, in a beer that has its origin in pre-revolution Russia. Baltika #6 Porter is one of the best beer values I've ever found.

Baltic porter is derived from Imperial Stouts, which were brewed by the English for Imperial Russia. Imperial stout is a bigger, stronger stout, and baltic porter is a bigger, stronger version of English porter, brewed in countries like Finland, Poland, Sweden, Lithuania and Russia. Because cold temperatures are easy to find in this region, baltic porters are cold-fermented lagers unlike most other porter styles, which tend to be ales.

Baltika porter pours almost black, with a tan head. The aroma tips you off that you have poured something different. There's malt, chocolate, caramel, dark roasted coffee, port wine, leather, and more. They should make a cologne out of this stuff.

The flavor is all that, plus sweetness. It tastes a bit like the raisins that get baked on top of an oatmeal cookie, verging on acrid, but rescued by sweetness. Hidden in all that flavor is 7% alcohol, which makes it a nice warming beer for a cold winter night.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Odell's Bourbon Barrel Stout

Imagine my delight when a recent morning at work was interrupted by a phone call from one of my favorite people asking me whether I wanted her to pick up any special beers from Odell's Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. She was standing in the brewery gift shop, and mentioned a limited edition Bourbon Barrel Stout. Sold!

Tonight, I uncorked the 750 milliliter bottle, after letting it warm up to around 45-50 degrees. A good rich beer should not be served tongue-numbingly cold; the warmth allows the complexities of the beer shine.

The aroma is all coffee and chocolate, and the color is dark brown just this side of black. No hop aroma can cut its way through the rich, malty smell. A note of vanilla gives just a hint of the complexity to be found just underneath the dark tan head. At 10.5% alcohol, it's not surprising that the head does not last long, though a film remains, and a lace of foam decorates the side of the glass as the beer disappears.

The mouthfeel is perfect. A beer this tasty is sometimes syrupy, but this one is enjoyably, perhaps dangerously, drinkable.

Appearance, aroma and mouthfeel are good, but the flavor is what makes this beer memorable. I'm not a huge fan of bourbon, because I don't enjoy the burn of high-alcohol liquors. This beer delivers the wonderful flavors of bourbon without the burn. Aged for 4 months in barrels from Buffalo Trace Distillery, this imperial stout yields agreeably to the vanilla, caramel and slight smokiness of bourbon in a cooling mouthful of chocolate and coffee maltiness. You get the pleasure of bourbon without the pain.

Don't let the word "stout" bring expectations of lots of dry roasted barley. Without the bourbon, this would be a big, creamy milk stout, leaning toward an imperial porter. I wonder whether I would find it too sweet without the added spiciness of the bourbon, but it is delightful as served.

This beer was around $16 for a bottle the same size as a bottle of wine. Frankly, it's worth every nickle. It has much more going on flavor-wise than even a very good bottle of wine, and the creativity and skill demonstrated by the brewers outshine the work put in by 99% of winemakers.

I don't know what I would pair this beer with. It's a little sweet to go with a steak, but it might be the perfect accompaniment to a dark chocolate mousse and a cigar. It certainly goes well with the handful of pretzels I'm tasting it with.

This is definitely one of the best beers I have ever had. The fact that a friend took time out of her journey to visit her friend to pick it up for me certainly makes me appreciate it more, but, if I see this on the shelves of any local stores, I'll be picking up a few bottles to cellar for special occasions.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Amarcord's La Tabachera

Having recently taken the Beer Judge Certification Program examination, I'm up to speed on traditional beer styles, and the way things are supposed to be. On Saturday, though, I picked up a beer that marches to the beat of its own drummer, and it's an anarchic blast of malt and alcohol that reminds serious students of beer that the point is, really, whether it tastes good.

Amarcord is an Italian brewery. Most Italian beers you find here in the United States are fizzy euro-lagers, without distinction. A developing craft beer movement has enlivened Italian pubs, though, and Amarcord is a newish brewery in San Marino, blending obsessions with Fellini and fermentation.

La Tabachera is listed on the brewery's website as a "double brown ale". It smelled more like a bock when it poured - this is a fragrant, malty beer. Sniff early when you pour it, because the head is fizzy and dissipates rapidly. It churns up the aromas of malt, fig, malt, malt, brown sugar, and malt.

If you're expecting anything remotely like any brown ale you've ever tasted, you're in for a surprise. It's nothing like Newcastle or Moose Drool or any of the other wonderful brown ales out there fitting within the regular style guidelines. It's not even very brown - it's more of an amber ale in terms of color.

The flavor of the beer delivers on the malt promise made by the scent. It tastes like a wonderful Oktoberfest boiled down to a syrup. It has a nice amount of hop bitterness to keep it from being overly sweet, but I could detect almost no hop flavor, beyond a peppery note that could come from German noble hops.

For all the flavor contained in this swing-top bottle, you'd expect it to be thick and viscous, but the mouthfeel is yet another surprise. It's almost on the thin side, even after the carbonation fled the glass. Perhaps the thinness comes from the fact that 10% of the fluid is alcohol - this is a deceptively drinkable strong beer.

Italians have given us great food, great wine, and now they have brought us some great beer. It's not what you'd expect, but it's a surprising and enjoyable beer. I'll be looking forward to seeing what else the Italian craft beer movement will produce.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog: Double Dead Guy Ale

Rogue Brewery is one of the world's great breweries, set in the great Northwest part of the US. Somehow, I've failed to review any of their innovative and well-crafted brews until this evening. The bottle that grabbed my attention and lured me to drop $11 for a bright red 750 milliliter bottle labeled "Double Dead Guy".

First, a word about Dead Guy ale, one of my top 10 beers. It's a malty Maibock, flawlessly crafted to warm a lucky drinker with malt, malt, malt and just enough hops to make the malt waltz instead of sinking into syrupy sweetness. If you haven't tried it, go get some and prepare to fall in love.

So, when I saw "Double Dead Guy", I simply had to try it. My rationalization was that it was no more than a decent bottle of wine, and a great beer experience beats an okay wine experience any day. Feel free to use this rationalization anytime you need it. It can justify some indulgent purchases, and if you practice, you can deliver it with a straight face.

When I popped the cap off the bottle, a malt aroma reached me even before I poured it. I knew I was in for a serious bock ride. Pouring it into a glass, the light tan head bounded to the top of the glass and the aroma introduced some piney American hops to balance the malt smell. It appeared cloudy as I was pouring it, but showed up clear in the glass. Some protein rich beers can experience something called "chill haze" when they are a bit on the cold side, and that must have been what I saw, because the beer appeared perfectly clear after it had warmed for just a couple minutes.

There's no style to compare this beer against. Rogue lists it as a "strong ale", which is a category but not a style under BJCP Guidelines. Rogue often produces great beers that defy traditional styles, and this is another one of those. It remains to be seen, though, whether the qualities of Double Dead Guy get imitated often enough to create a new style.

The taste is more malt grain than sweet - with a solid backing of bittering hops to keep it from being too sweet. The malt flavor melts into a honey note as the beer warms, but the impression after swallowing is a zesty hop bitterness. It's not nearly as thick or as sweet as you expect when you first take a sip.

Tipping the scales at 9% ABV, this is a big complex brew. There's a touch of roastiness in the malt - there's a caramel chewiness as well. I won't claim that it is a bargain, but it is a heck of a great beer, and I'm glad I splurged on it.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog: Amstel Light and Heineken Light

Here's a little twist on my usual format of writing a review of one beer at a time. Tonight, I'm drinking two light beers from Holland and trying to provide a little guidance for those who face the choice between Amstel Light and Heineken Light.

First, a few words about the style. Light lagers are generally scorned by beer snobs like me. They carry little alcohol, less flavor, and they're simply not as interesting as a nice porter or even a good pilsner. The removal of calories necessarily means removing some of the flavors that make beer the satisfying beverage it is. It's kind of like comparing a good burgundy to a wine spritzer.

As a homebrewer, though, I deeply respect the light beers. There's nowhere to hide in a beer as transparent as Amstel Light or Heineken Light. Any off-flavor dominates the palate, while it would be covered up in a more flavorful beer. I'd probably never be able to make a beer with as little flavor as these beers, so it's just as well that I don't really want to try.

For years, Amstel was the light version of Heineken. Like a lot of brewers back when light beers came out, Heineken did not want to risk its good name on a watery imitation beer, so it assigned the name of a river in Holland. If Amstel Light flopped, the main brand wouldn't be damaged.

Now, light beers are not so risky, and Heineken has introduced a light beer with the flagship name on the bottle. Last week, I bought a bottle of each at World Market. Tonight I decided to see if they differ, and, if so, which is the better beer.

Cutting to the chase, they differ, but neither is better. Heineken Light is a little maltier, a little skunkier, and a little more full-bodied. Amstel has a bit more bite, and probably a better choice for nights when you want to have more than one.

Both poured light yellow, with Amstel Light having a slightly more amber shade. Heineken's head was fizzy and dissipated almost immediately. Amstel's head was slightly longer-lived and slightly creamier, but it, too, was gone within a few minutes.

Neither offers a come-hither aroma. Amstel has very little aroma at all, while Heineken comes forward with the skunkiness for which the flagship brand is famous. I've come to expect Heineken to be skunky, so I accept the odor as a characteristic more than a flaw. If you like Heineken, you know what to expect.

Flavor wise, Heineken Light is a passable pale imitation of its big brother. It's not really a bad beer if you can tolerate the skunky sweet flavor of Heineken. In fact, I think I might like it better than the original - the original's flaws are less offensive when they're a little less intense. There's also a touch of DMS in there, giving it a slight cooked-corn flavor, arising from the use of pale pilsner malt.

Amstel tastes more like a proper pilsner than Heineken. It's a bit more bitter, and there is just a touch of hop flavor. To me, the beer has a slight chemical flavor, almost like chlorine off a summer pool. It has a good balance to it - for a light beer, it has a reasonable malt backbone to it, with a hop bitterness to play off it. It's not a completely satisfactory beer by any means, but it has all the basic elements. Just too much water.

There are good reasons to drink light beer. I imagine light beer will be my post-practice beer of choice after I get snapped up by the Wizards. If you're drinking light beer, Amstel and Heineken offer two decent options.

My next review, however, will be something more satisfying.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

I've been wanting to try this beer for months - it's a beer-lover's beer. It was the favorite beer of homebrewers in a recent poll, and I've never been disappointed by a Dogfish Head beer. So, when Sam came home for the Bruce Springsteen concert, I asked him to bring a couple bottles. It was $11.00 for a twelve ounce bottle. Tonight, I popped one open.

This is a BIG beer. It tips the scales at 20% ABV - that's 40 proof. The brewers boil it for 120 minutes, and add hops every single minute. Then, after it finishes fermenting, they add more hops to the fermenter every day for a month. 450 calories. Extreme brewing, indeed.

It pours out cloudy and orange, hazy with hoppy complexity and malt sweetness. The first sip was truly surprising - almost lemony and sweet. The lemon comes from the citrusy American hops, and the sweetness is more alcohol than malt. The hop bitterness is not at all overwhelming; in fact, I'd say that Samuel Adams Hallertauer Imperial Pilsner is actually a wilder ride on the hop train.

The mouthfeel of this beer is velvety rich. Its head is thin, but lasts through the entire glass - there's a lot of malt protein to support a head, but plenty of alcohol to thin it out.

This is definitely a sipping beer - at 20% ABV, it's nothing you would want to chug after mowing the lawn. In fact, it is probably something to be shared with a friend, but I'm home alone this evening, so I'll have to make do.

Dogfish Head Brewery makes great, interesting beers. Whenever you see something from them, give it a try - you'll be tasting the leading edge of American brewing. They started out with a ten gallon system - not much different from my own - and they, more than any other commercial brewery, retain the excitement and experimental spirit of homebrewing. They make historical brews based on Egyptian recipes, they make freaky Belgian stuff, and they make one amazing Imperial IPA.

Despite its critical acclaim, this is not my favorite beer ever. It's a hell of a beer, mind you, and it sets an outer limit for what an IPA can be. This is serious beer to be enjoyed by those who are looking for a truly different experience - at a little less than a buck a fluid ounce.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse

Serious American beer drinkers have a justifiable lack of enthusiasm for wheat beers. American wheat beers tend to be lightly hopped, bland, and often a little sweet. They function as an "entry level" craft beer - a step up from Bud-Miller-Coors, but still very approachable. On a hot summer day, they can be refreshing, especially with a wedge of lemon.

One bottle of Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse changes all that.

The result of a collaboration between the brewmasters from Schneider Weissbier Brewery and The Brooklyn Brewery, this beer marries the snappy hop tendencies of American brewers with the traditional yeasty banana and clove esters of the great Bavarian brewers.

Bavarian wheat beers are an entirely different beast from American-style wheat beers. The special yeast used in brewing them creates flavors of banana, cloves and citrus, without adding any of those actual ingredients. The result is a refreshing, effervescent, generally light beer. A Bavarian wheat beer is cloudy and has a fluffy, white head.

Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse brings all that, and more. The flavors explode on your tongue - you get the full dose of banana and clove flavor, and the citrus flavor is enhanced by a completely non-Bavarian dose of post-fermentation hops. Where Bavarian wheat beer is generally light in alcohol, this one packs an 8.2 percent wallop.

This beer is a treat - I wouldn't want to drink it very often, and it probably is not a great introduction to the Bavarian wheat beer style, since it's so hoppy and big. But if you want to get jolted out of your Boulevard Wheat complacency, hunt up a bottle of Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse and go to town on it. After that, expand your understanding of what wheat can accomplish in beer by picking up a Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, or maybe a König Ludwig Weiss.

It's summer - time for the hefeweizens to brighten the picnic tables pub tables of beer drinkers.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock

Way back in the dark days of beer, when a fancy import was a Heineken and a well-crafted American beer was a Michelob, the story spread that doppelbock beer was simply the dregs from the barrels of "normal beers", as if it was dark sludge that somehow sank like mud to the bottom of a pond.

Slander! Quite the opposite, a doppelbock beer at its best is a clean, carefully brewed lager, high in alcohol and rich in malt flavor. Brewed as "liquid bread" by German monks to sustain themselves through Lenten days of fasting, when the ban on solid food was made merciful by the flowing of an extra-strong, chewy lager.

Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock is a great example of the style. Released on Fat Tuesday, it carries on a great tradition of "-ator" named doppelbocks, in homage to the original Salvator Doppelbock.

Originally brewed by the Paulaner monks in the mid-1600s, Salvator Doppelbock was viewed as such a wonderful indulgence that some of the more worry-prone monks thought it wise to gain papal approval for drinking this liquid bread during Lent. So, they sent a barrel of it to the Vatican, for the Pope to sample. Sanitation and refrigeration in the 17th century were non-existent, and, when the Pope finally tasted the soured, nasty beer, he deemed it an appropriate drink for those doing penance during Lent, and, thus, the monks of Paulaner were given specific Papal approval to brew and drink Salvator during a season when everyone else was suffering.

Bell's Celebrator pours a wonderfully clear dark golden brown with a reddish tinge - almost a copper color. It offers up a rich head, but that dissipates relatively quickly, as is common in high-alcohol beers. At 8% alcohol, this is no chugging beer. The alcohol adds a warm spiciness to a solidly malty beer. Just enough bittering hops to keep the beer from being overly sweet, but little to no hop flavor. Malt is the star of this show, and the mouthfeel is chewy. The malt tastes a bit like toffee, and the spiciness comes across with a flavor I would describe as almost cinnamony - the flavor comes across a bit in the aroma, as well.

There may be better doppelbocks out there - indeed, you can purchase a bottle of the original in most decent liquor stores. But Bell's ranks way up there with any of them, and the fact that it was so recently released means that you can count on a fresh example of a fine beer when you pop open the bottle. And your doppelbock will be a far better experience than the Pope's was.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Sinister Rabbit

A while back, I wrote a fair but scathing review of Mac's Beer, brewed by the folks over at Flying Monkey Brewery. 6 weeks or so ago, I found a beer tasting station at Lukas Liquors, and they were pouring a different Flying Monkey effort, and I gave it "Roadtrip Brewing Sinister Rabbit Ale" a try. Tonight, with the snow and sleet flying, I popped the top off of one and it's still a pretty darned respectable beer.

The key to this beer is hop bitterness. It's a porter (though I think the sample dude told me it was a stout). The aroma is coffee, with a touch of maltiness. The color is dark brown, almost black, topped with a classic tan head of an all-malt porter. From the aroma, you'd expect something rich and sweet like St. Bridget's Robust Porter.

And then the hop bitterness hits. The maltiness is still there, but the sharpness of hops transforms it into something different and distinctive.

Hops can do three different things in a beer. They can add aroma, they can add flavor, and they can add bitterness. In this one, it's all about the bitterness. If you want aroma and flavor and bitterness, try Sam Adams Hallertauer Imperial Pilsner, but Sinister Rabbit has little hop aroma, not much hop flavor, and a healthy dose of hop bitterness.

Bitter doesn't sound that good, I suppose, but it's not set-your-teeth-on-edge bitterness, it's sharp and interesting bitter. It's like how a sharp cheddar is better than Velveeta. It's like how dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate. This is a great beer that will stand up to and enhance rich foods, and cut through sauces.

I love the porter style and this is a good example, with its own unique personality. Lots of breweries make rich, sweet, malty porters, and I enjoy those as well. But Sinister Rabbit stretches the envelope toward the bitter side, and it's a welcome addition to the world of porter. On top of that, it's brewed locally, so it deserves your attention when you see it in the beer aisle.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - St. Bridget's Robust Porter

It's a cold election evening in Kansas City, and I won't be heading out to the watch party, so it's a fine evening to try a new porter. This time it's Saint Bridget's Robust Porter, by the Great Divide Brewing Company of Denver.

God, I love a good porter, and this is a great one. Tell you what - stop reading this, go out, buy a six pack of this stuff, and come back and taste along with me.

On pouring, you see a rich, almost viscous dark brown. The aroma is chocolate and coffee. The body is full, but not syrupy. The flavor is a beer version of a great chocolate mocha malt. The aftertaste, though, is dry with a pleasant kiss of hop flavor.

Porters got their start in England in the 18th Century, and some believe that the name comes from the burly men who worked as porters in London and appreciated a rich, nourishing beer. Originally, porters were blended from brown ale and whatever else was on tap. Soon, though, the brewers began creating vast quantities of beer brewed with the smoky brown malt available at the time. In 1814, a vat of porter burst in London, killing 8 people and destroying several houses.

I hope to live a long time. But, when my time is up, I hope it's due to a burst vat of Saint Bridget's Robust Porter.

Blogger Appreciation: KC Beer Blog

Despite the fact that I greatly enjoy beer, I'm not a huge fan of most blogs devoted to the topic. Most of them are waaay too serious, and focused on numbers and rankings. Despite my efforts here from time to time, you can't fully convey the taste of a beer with words, so a website devoted solely to beer tasting gets pretty boring after a while. But, here in Kansas City, we are blessed with a sharp-eyed observer of the beer scene with the rare ability to stay both varied and focused - KC Beer Blog."

The writers of the site are Wes Port and Bull E. Vard. Between them, they keep readers well-informed about new beers available in the area, where to find them, which bars are worth visiting (pretty much all of them, depending on your mood), beer jokes, beer news, and so on. 99.9% of the time, the topic is beer, or beer-related. I admire the discipline, since I've seen comments from Mr. Vard here on political topics, but they don't make it onto the site.

The thing that really makes this site worth visiting is the writing. The posts are always engaging, and often hilarious. Witness this piece of writing, when Bull E. Vard has decided that a fellow patron at the Studio Bar is a douche for drinking Bud Light from a bottle where it is available on tap:

Wes finally arrived, I told him of the PBR special, he did the "hmm, wonder what I wa..PBR please" joke. He noted the douche to my left (Bud Light in bottle), I pointed to the tap handle, a knowing glance was exchanged. Next time this happens and I have time for another beer, I think I'll order a Bud Light in the bottle, then look at the tap handles "notice" they have Bud Light on tap and say to the bartender "sorry, didn't meant to be a douche, I'll have the Bud Light on tap". The downside of that ploy would be that I would still be a douche for drinking Bud Light, but the real douche would feel really douchey or just beat my balls in. Maybe I won't do that, silent mockery is probably best.

Folks, if that visit into the inner thoughts of a guy at a bar didn't make you smile, order yourself another bottle of Bud Light.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Samuel Adams Hallertauer Imperial Pilsner

Just by looking at the name, you get the sense that Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner is going to be about the hops. The word "Hallertauer" refers to a variety of German hop - famous for its spicy, herbal flavor and great aroma. It is one of the four "Noble hops" (the others being Spalt, Tettnang and Saaz), grown in Germany and prized for their classical flavor.

Pop one of these bottles open ($9.99 for a 4-pack at Gomer's Midtown), and you'll earn your "hop head" stripes. You'll smell the hops as it pours, slightly hazy, with a golden straw color. By appearance, it's a pretty typical pilsner style lager, with nothing more than a slight haziness to tip you off that there's an explosion waiting in the glass.

Most great beers are balanced - this is not one of them. There's a decent amount of malt and body there, but it is overwhelmed by the hop bitterness and flavor. The bitterness lingers on the back of your tongue after you swallow, and burns on the way down your throat. Part of the burn may be the 8.8% alcohol - this is a warming beer fit for a winter evening, though it looks more like a lawnmower beer.

Note the glass in the picture - it's a special Samuel Adams glass the brewery sent me and other members of the American Homebrewers Association. It's designed to gather hop aroma in the swollen top section of the glass. Despite its growth into a size that can scarcely be called a craft brewery anymore, Samuel Adams deserves kudos for keeping in touch with its roots in the homebrewing arena.

The choice of Hallertauer hops for a pilsner is slightly nontraditional. Pilsners are famous for Saaz hops - Hallertauers usually go into German lagers. Regardless, the spicy flavor of the Hallertauer makes a great beer. It would be fascinating if they would make varieties of the beer with the other 3 noble hop varieties . . .

If you like hops, this is a beer you'll love. If you pefer a malty beer, or even a balanced beer, you'll want something much less aggressively hopped.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Mac's Beer

So far in this series, I've only reviewed beers that I've really enjoyed. I've hoped to turn readers on to a few of the many fantastic beers out there that they might not have tasted, and might not get around to tasting.

Tonight, though, I'm hoping to save you all from a bad experience. Mac's Beer, a new "American Style Beer" contract brewed by Flying Monkey for EME Squared Brewing, is one of the worst beers I've tasted in years. There are lots of bad beers in the world, but this one distinguishes itself with its awful taste.

American Style Lagers are not easy to make. Because they are so light, there is no room for error. If you ferment a porter a few degrees too warm, or if your brown ale has a touch too much hop flavor, the sheer amount of other flavor will cover up the sin. With a beer that is aiming at delivering nothing but lightness and refreshment, though, every flaw is exposed.

I'm not one of those beer snobs who detests American lagers. There are times when a Budweiser hits the spot, and I have fond memories of the hop bitterness and tang of Schlitz. A good, crisp, cold American Lager can be a wonderful beer, though it won't have the depths of flavor and nuances of a Belgian ale.

Mac's is a bad American lager. It lacks the clean crispness of the good ones. Instead, it is heavy with a bready malt sweetness, and lacks the balance of hop bitterness that could rescue it from insipidness.

The aroma from the beer is cooked corn, indicating the presence of DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide). It's a common flaw in light beers, but can be avoided with cautious brewing and an open boil. The cooked corn shows up in the flavor, as well, weighing it down and converting what should be a delicate, light flavor into a heavy, vegetal one.

Many brewers consider American lager to be crap beer, and much of it is. Oddly enough, though, this least-favorite style requires more care and talent to make successfully than any other. Flying Monkey Brewery has made some pretty decent ales, but Mac's Beer shows that it is not ready to run with the big monkeys.

(Update, 8/28: If anybody wants the remainder of the 12 pack, email me at dan@gonemild.com.)

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Abita Turbodog

New Orleans' favorite brewery is located just across Lake Pontchartrain in Abita Springs, Louisianna. Like so much in Louisianna, Abita Brewery does its own thing without much regard for the ways of the rest of the world. Turbodog Ale is its version of a brown ale - one of the most ancient and traditional styles of ale, both in its original English version and in its hoppier American version. Turbodog is a flawed Engish Brown Ale, and a poor example of an American Brown Ale. That said, it does exactly what a brown ale from New Orleans ought to do - provide a great experience while telling the rest of the world to piss off.

Turbodog pours out with a rich mahogany color and a tan, mousse-like head. The aroma is caramel and roasted malt, with just a tiny hint of citrusy hops.

On the tongue, Turbodog strikes up the jazz band. It has a surprisingly firm base of hop bitterness that balances perfectly with the rich malt. Tangy is not a word I would normally use to describe a beer I like, but somehow the hops and malt come together with a zing that fits that can only be described that way. It's like the horns in a New Orleans jazz band - most jazz bands do just fine without them, but they sure do add a lot of joy to the music.

English Brown Ales are all about the malt, and American Brown Ales are all about the hops. Abita Turbodog is all about making them play together, in a way that makes them both surprising and fresh.

Because it is so rich, dark and flavorful, Turbodog is not necessarily the best beer to slam at a softball game or use as the next step up for your Bud Light drinking friends. It is, however, one of the best beers ever for serving with most foods. It has so much flavor going on that it complements darned near everything, from rich stews to grilled sandwiches.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - O'Fallon Smoked Porter

My favorite librarian dropped me an email earlier today and commented on my political overemphasis and my failure to write about beer recently. I have to admit, she had a point - when the political discussions are getting heated enough that Travelingal leaves them, it's time to sit back and mellow one's self with a good beer.

Fortunately, I had a beer in the refrigerator I've been wanting to try. So, tonight I've popped open a bottle of O'Fallon Smoked Porter that I picked up on a journey to Lucas Liquors on Sunday. I met the brewers a few weeks ago at a fundraiser in Blue Springs, pouring their tasty 5-Day IPA, and they seemed like fine people. O'Fallon Brewery is yet another fine Missouri brewery deserving of support.

I've not had many smoked beers before, and I haven't enjoyed those I've tried. They've been all smoke and not much beer - kind of like someone dumped a bottle of liquid smoke into a bottle of Budweiser.

Pouring the beer, you get a porter that looks like many others - a tan head on top of a deep, rich, opaque black beer. The aroma is malty and smokey - a blended smell where the smoke dominates, but the sweet smell of malt promises that the beer won't taste like licking the inside of a Weber kettle.

The taste lives up to the promise. Expecting a heavy dose of smoke, I was surprised to get a much more subtle smoke flavor balanced with a darned good chocolatey porter. It reminded me a lot of Rogue Brewery's Mocha Porter, but enhanced by a very nice smokey flavor. I love Rogue's Mocha Porter, so that is high praise.

Smoked chocolate is probably the best description of the flavor - good malt balancing the smoke, and no real hop flavor, though a proper dose of hop bitterness prevents the beer from being cloyingly sweet. There is a hint of coffee and caramel, as well.

If there is a flavor flaw in this beer, it comes in the aftertaste, which is slightly tart and acidic. After such a smooth and rich beer, it comes as a bit of a disappointment.

This is another excellent beer to add to the series on its way to 99. I look forward to trying it with barbecue, and see how the smoke flavors go together. I suspect it will be at its best on an autumn evening, though, with a good sharp cheddar and a few pretzels . . .

99 Bottles of Beer on the Blog - Unibroue 16

Unibroue is a great brewery, producing top-quality Belgian-style beers from their brewery in Quebec. Their beers are not slavish recreations of any other beer - instead, they are as boldly conceived and richly executed as the finest of the Belgian brewers. They capture the spirit of Belgian beer as much as the flavor.

Unibroue 16 is a Belgian Strong Ale, probably best categorized as a Tripel. "16" is a special beer brewed for the 16th anniversary of the brewery. It is a golden/orangish color, and has a foamy head that settles fairly quickly into a light covering of tiny bubbles. The nose is surprisingly light for a beer that jumps into your mouth with a shout of esters, pepper, alcohol warmth and a bubble-gummy flavor from the characteristic Belgian yeasts.

Weighing in at 10% alcohol, this is a big beer, but it is subtle. The alcohol doesn't burn, and is concealed behind the malty taste and the yeast flavors. The hops do not contribute to flavor, but provide the bitterness to keep the beer balanced instead of cloying.

This is definitely a beer for beer snobs. If you're not expecting the estery flavors of a Belgian tripel, you're going to think you got a bad bottle, but, if you're looking for a solid interpretation of the Belgian Tripel style, you'll enjoy toasting 16 years of outstanding brewing at Unibroue.