Strong Beer Fest 2012 was held at Green Man Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina on February 18. The weather held off, and everyone was able to alternate between going inside and outside, which was great. HRH and I have not visited the brewery before, and we were a little surprised to find that the operation as it is currently laid out is so compact:
Green Man will soon open a 25,000 square foot facility south of downtown Asheville, where the company will brew its three 'regular' beers - Green Man IPA, ESB and Porter. The downtown Buxton Avenue location will remain, but will be dedicated to 'specialty' beers, like the strong beers that were available during the fest. Without further ado, here's a rundown of those beers:
The Imperial Brown Stout (10.1% ABV) represents a style that was popular in the 19th century, but has over the years been replaced by other similar styles, such as Russian imperial stouts. Green Man's Mike K. found the recipe on Shut Up About Barclay Perkins (barclayperkins.blogspot.com), which collects many old brewery ledgers and recipes and publishes them for those who would like to try an 'old style' beer. The Imperial Brown Stout was lightly carbonated (due to a small cask leak during fermentation, I was told) and has a strong malt nose. It also includes a pound of Fuggles hops in the recipe, which gives it a balanced flavor.
East India Porter is a style that also derives from 19th century recipes; from an 1856 recipe in this particular case. Everyone is familiar with the derivation of IPA, which was hopped to facilitate shipping to troops serving in the Raj in India in the 1800s. The East India Porter is a hopped porter that was also formulated to allow for shipping over long distances without losing freshness. Green Man's version has a mild malt nose, and generated a 1/2" frothy head on pouring. It comes in at 7.2% ABV, which makes it easy-drinking.
Green Man's own description of its K.K. Downing St. Old Ale was full of good facts, so I'll borrow from it here: "Beers used to be sold marked as X, XX, or XXX depending on strength. Breweries also made a special version[s] with extra hops for aging (or "keeping"). These were marked K, KK, or KKK. This cask would be a KK and is colored with a house-made caramel syrup." This ale comes in at 8.5% ABV, and includes the addition of
Brettanomyces, which imparts a farmhouse flavor.
The last of the four cask ales at Strong Beer Fest was Killdevil Special, a version of Green Man's Imperial Stout, aged in rum barrels and then casked with cocoa nibs. This was reminiscent of Foothills' Sexual Chocolate, which is renowned and much sought-after. Killdevil Special is 10% ABV, but is mild and not boozy. It pours a beautiful black/red, and the addition of chocolate is a perfect compliment to the maltiness of the stout.
HRH and I moved outside to begin sampling the kegged beers, due to the perfect weather. The first of the 11 taps that we sampled was the 8.7% ABV Baltic Porter with Norweigan Spruce Tips, and it was amazing.
It pours a dark brown with a light frothy head that clears quickly. The nose is (as you might expect) heavy spruce, and very pleasant. This porter tastes like drinking a Christmas tree (and I mean that in a good way). If you like hoppy beers, the addition of spruce is clever, and welcome. The use of spruce also imparts a quasi-acidity to the beer, which leaves a feeling of tiny bubbles on the back of the tongue as one swallows. For all of of these reasons - color, aroma, mouthfeel, taste - this was my favorite beer of the fest. One I would definitely buy to take home if it were put into production (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, Green Man ...)
Next up was Gabe's Green Giant American Barley Wine. The name is a mouthful, and at 10.5% ABV, so was the beer. One of the cool things about Strong Beer Fest was that Green Man invited some of its non-brewer employees to try their hand at making a featured beer, and Gabe's barleywine is one example of this. As the picture above indicates, the color is a lovely amber/red/brown. It has a raisiny nose, and produced minimal head on pouring. The beer was triple dry hopped (!) with Chinook, Cascade and Centennial, so citrusy flavors and aromas really hit hard. The aftertaste is near-earthy, but complimentary to the other flavors. An excellent effort, and a complex grab bag of aromas and tastes.
Tap #3 featured the St. Hubbins Trippel, named (I presume) in homage to the patron saint of quality footwear mentioned in This Is Spinal Tap. This brew was HRH's favorite, she tending to enjoy saisons and lightly-hopped beers more than the super-hoppy sorts. As the photo indicates, St. Hubbins pours a light golden color, with light carbonation and a head comprised of tiny bubbles that quickly dissipate. It has a mild Belgian yeast nose (and is in fact made with three different strains of yeast), but is not boozy-smelling, despite its 8.8% ABV. This is definitely one that could sneak up on you on a hot day. I will defer the joke about this beer "going to 11."
The Strong Coffee Porter (8% ABV) was just as it is named - strong roasted coffee nose, and assertive coffee flavor, imparted by the addition of Asheville-local Pitbull on Crack coffee from Asheville Coffee Roasters. Definitely an eye-opener. I also like the idea of these local-local collaborations on ingredients to produce unique beers.
Molly, a Green Man bartender, submitted her Strong Ale to the fest, which at 10.3% ABV certainly lives up to its name. It poured with a light, frothy head and a pretty golden/amber color. This one was hopped with Centennial, which is obvious in the nose. A good winter warmer, indeed.
Tap #6 featured Mike K.'s Hopzilla DIPA. It pours a light amber, a change from a lot of DIPAs, which tend towards dark. Don't let the color fool you, though - at 8.9% ABV, this DIPA is described as "dangerously drinkable," and I would agree with that. The nose is a citrus hop explosion, and one picks up all of the Simcoe, Citra, Columbus and Amarillo used to dry hop this beer twice. Another one I would like to see in regular production, or at least on tap at the brewery or at Jack of the Wood.
The Westashevilleteren (10.7% ABV) is difficult to say, but easy to drink. It's a Belgian "quad," or strong dark ale, and has a caramel syrup nose. It has a light, thin head on pouring. According to the description provided by Green Man, the beer is made using local candy syrup that includes beets and dates. A lot of different flavors at work here; very complex taste, with a dry finish.
The Trepanator Dopple Bock is a dark amber, traditional German strong bock (8.7% ABV), which utilizes Munich and caramel malts for smoothness. Just a bit more than lightly carbonated, it was very drinkable, with very nice malt highlights. Unassuming, clean and easy-drinking.
The Uber Sticke Imperial Alt is a Dusseldorf-style altbier, a style that I don't believe I have sampled before. This version is altbier+, with tweaks to the usual recipe including 60% Munich malt, and a nice balance of bitterness. At 7.8% ABV, it's strong, but not too much. This one was brewed by assistant brewer Kyle, and is a great example of how properly to balance malt and bitter flavors.
The Weizen Bock poured with a big, frothy head, and was dark amber in color. At 8.3% ABV, it certainly fits the bill for Strong Beer Fest. As the name implies, this beer uses wheat beer yeast. There was a noticeable banana nose and taste to the beer, which the description provided by Green Man indicates is distinctive of wheat beer yeast.
Last, but certainly not least, was Barley Legal Imperial Barley Wine. At 15% ABV, this is as strong a beer that can be produced within legal limits. Green Man's Mike K. repitched with the brewery's own house yeast four times to stop this barleywine from ever becoming too sweet. It's also hopped with a full pound of Simcoe, which balances both the nose and the taste. A half pint of this one was plenty, but it 's a terrific example of the craft of brewing - producing a beer with a high alcohol content, but retaining drinkability. A great way to end Strong Beer Fest 2012.
If you made it all the way to the end ot this post, thanks for sticking with me. HRH and I look forward to bringing you more reports from southern beer festivals, schedule permitting. Looking ahead to the next post, I visited the recently-opened World of Beer in Columbia, South Carolina, and in the coming days will report on what I found there. Thanks again for your interest. Please follow us on Twitter at @beersouth, and like BeerSouth's Facebook page.
