Westbrook Gose

Ok, first, I'm sorry. Blogging takes a discipline that I sometimes lack, and my work schedule has really gotten in the way lately. It's been a month since my last post, and I certainly hope that doesn't happen again. Thanks for sticking with me. If anyone's interested, I tried a case in Milledgeville over three days in May, and then got handed a defense verdict, and my ass. Asking the judge for a new trial, but that hearing is not until the end of August.

On to beer. It's turned hot out, and most of us drift a bit afield of porters and stouts in the summertime, kind of like we skip the stew and opt for a chicken caesar. That means light, crisp, refreshing farmhouse ales, saisons and kolschs. Add to that list Gose, which I have only recently discovered. What is Gose, you ask?

Beeradvocate.com describes it thusly:

An old German beer style from Leipzig, Gose is an unfiltered wheat beer made with 50-60% malted wheat, which creates a cloudy yellow color and provides a refreshing crispness and twang. A Gose will have a low hop bitterness and a complimentary dryness and spice from the use of ground coriander seeds and a sharpness from the addition of salt. Like Berliner Weisse beers, a Gose will sometimes be laced with various flavored and colored syrups. This is to balance out the addition of lactic acid that is added to the boil.

Untappd lists about 20 non-home brewed Goses in its database. A great one made right in Charleston is Westbrook's (@westbrookbeer), which is 4% ABV, and is an excellent combination of sour, funk, citrus and salt.

I shared a growler of this with a few friends, none of whom had ever tried a Gose (pronounced GO-suh, by the way - it's German, doesn't rhyme with 'hose'), and all were taken aback and unsure at first. Before the first pints were half gone, however, everyone was digging it. Get some while you can, and carry it to the beach with you. Westbrook's Gose also comes in 22 oz. bottles. Prost!

Big Boss Hell's Belle

I was very pleased to discover, on a recent trip to Tryon, NC, that the local IGA carries Big Boss (@bigbossbeer), among several other great craft brews. Big Boss only distributes from Raleigh west, and only in North Carolina, so it is good to know that the distribution area includes at least one city that's an easy drive from upstate South Carolina. Keep it coming, Big Boss.

Now, about some beer- I picked up a sixer of Hell's Belle, an easy-drankin' Belgian-style ale. It's light on carbonation, but has a great body, and features both Belgian yeast and malt. I'm not up on my Belgian malts, but I will check on it. Hell's Belle is 7% ABV, and to be so light, it still has punch. A great inclusion in any ice chest as you head to the lake this spring and summer.

New Belgium La Folie

Since New Belgium is opening a facility in Asheville, we can now consider NB a southern brewer, and hence La Folie a southern beer. I know the new plant won't be open for a couple of years, and that there are no plans to produce La Folie in North Carolina at all, but you still need to know about this beer, so I'm giving it a pass.

La Folie can be described as a Flemish Red, a Flanders ale, a wild ale or a sour brown ale. Whatever you call it, La Folie is one of just a few North American-produced sours. It's aged in French oak barrels, and NB has a separate area in its current brewhouse for La Folie production and aging, to ensure that the beer does not become inoculated with yeasts used to make NB's other beers.

La Folie pours a translucent red-brown, with just a few bubbles at the top of the pour. Mouthfeel is exceptional, with carbonation throughout. Flavors of Granny Smith apple, a bit of barnyard funk and tart berries are evident. The body is thin, and the finish is dry, in keeping with the style. If you've never tried a sour, La Folie is an excellent introduction, comparing very favorably with 'real' Belgian sours, like Vichtenaar.

One comment on price: at The Community Tap (@communitytap), I was surprised to find a 22oz. bottle of La Folie priced at $13. However, a growler of La Folie is only $16. When I asked about this, I was told that NB sets the pricing this way, and that an NB rep said that the company didn't think that customers buying 22s would really notice the price differential. When 22oz. only costs $3 less than 64oz., I tend to notice. NB needs to fix this. For the time being, if you can find kegged La Folie, buy it that way. If there are no tap shops in your area, I would still drop the $13 for a bottle, just to be able to try it.

Mini-Review: Westbrook Covert Hops

Sorry about the crappy lighting on this photo - it's the label of @westbrookbrewing's new black IPA, called Covert Hops. There is some debate about whether the 'black IPA' is really a separate style, or is just a hopped stout. Covert Hops is a point for the 'separate style' crowd. This beer pours an impenetrable dark black/brown and is certainly full of roasted malt aromas, but it is a dark ale, through and through. Though it pours without a great deal of head, lacing is excellent (even on Day 2 of an unsealed growler).

According to Westbrook, four pounds of hops are used in every batch, and it's easy to confirm this by taste. Covert Hops has a crisp hoppy finish that is decidedly un-stoutlike, in that it leaves you with a resiny bite at the end, rather than a creamy note. It's available in March and April only, so jump on it.

... and a Tale of Two Porters

Last post we dove into Foothills' (@foothillsbrew) old and new IPA offerings. Now, let's talk porter, one a souped-up version of the other. First, Foothills People's Porter. This English-style porter gives you just about everything you could want in the style - beautiful dark brown color with reddish highlights; and a great mix of chocolate and coffee flavors with just a hint of toffee.

 

As you can see, People's Porter offers a decent head and great lacing, too. I had mine in a Duvel tulip, which allowed my ample proboscis plenty of room to get right in on the beer and take in all the yum aromas. What to do to improve such a libational gem, you ask? How about giving People's Porter a long nap in bourbon barrels? That's right - meet Bourbon Barrel-Aged People's Porter, the Kentucky cousin of the original:

 

Different kind of glass, but same head and perhaps a mellower shade of brown. Speaking of mellower, the bourbon wood does just what it's supposed to do here - take the original flavor combination and add a bit of bourbon nose and smooth new element to the finish. Kegs only on this one, so get thee to your neighborhood beer bar (and in Greenville, that means Barley's), and hie thee hence, ere this very successful twist on an already excellent porter is gone.

 

 

 

A Tale of Two IPAs

Winston-Salem's Foothills (@foothillsbrew) has had, for a good while now, a perennial winner in Hoppyum.

A red-gold beaut made with Columbus, Simcoe, Cascade and Centennial, Hoppyum packs 70 IBUs and comes in at 6.2% ABV. Not quite a session beer, but that depends on what kind of session you're looking for, doesn't it? I had a chance to try a new and different Foothills IPA the other day at Barley's (@barleysgville), called Jade. As you can see, it's a shade or so more orange than Hoppyum:

Dr. Dan (@drelwell) had the reaction many of you may have had - "why two IPAs?" The answer is in the hop profile. Jade uses Citra and Cascade, but adds dry-hopped New Zealand Jade to the mix. The result is a nose full of citrus and almost-spruce. Jade has more bitterness than Hoppyum (85 IBUs), and will definitely satisfy any hopheads who can find some to quaff. That last bit may be tricky, though. The batch Foothills brewed was allegedly just 14 kegs, so Jade is hard to come by and disappearing fast.

Mini review - Skull Coast Scallywag

Tried this ESP on a Carolina Pint Sunday at the Saucer. It's easy-drinking, and has a good combination of malt flavors. This beer won the Gastonia Beer Festival, too. May be less appealing to true hop heads, but remember, it's not trying to be an IPA. It's 5.4% ABV, so it won't make you want a nap after lunch. Skull Coast Brewing (@skullcoast) is in Ft. Mill, SC, so stop by if you're around Charlotte.

Also saw this tap handle, which is just funny:

 

 

 

Mini review - Westbrook Lichtenhainer

 

Got a 22 of Westbrook Lichtenhainer to try. I love Westbrook's IPA and the farmhouse ale. The Lichtenhainer is described as a take on the German Weissbeer style - wheaty and light.

This beer is also smoked, and the combination of smoke, sourness and wheat rendered a taste like rancid bacon. There, I said it. Maybe I'm just not a fan of the style, and maybe my palate doesn't appreciate weissbeers, but I couldn't power through this one. Westbrook (@westbrookbeer) makes a lot of great beers, but this one wasn't for me. Now pass me an IPA.

 

Glynn Brewing Co.

When I'm not drinking beer or making the world safe for democracy, I like to brew. I'm new at it, but my friend Jeff and I have done five extract batches, and all but the first were pretty good. We're calling it Glynn Brewing Co., with the idea that we might do some tastings at a local joint or two at some point (wink, wink, nudge, nudge Tipsy McSway). Anyway, here's what's cooking (or conditioning, as it were):

 

Here is our vanilla stout being racked into the filler bucket the other night. You can't smell the photo, but this shit is like ice cream. Can't wait until it gets a little carbonation in it. Our mistake with this beer was brewing it in January, so it could ferment until late March, and bottle-condition until ... summer. Just when no one's thinking of drinking a stout.

We also have a DIPA that was made with two pounds of honey in a five-gallon batch. This one was brewed with six kinds of hops, and should be a doozy. Taste research has indicated that this one may be drinkable in about two weeks.

Also spending time getting fizzy is GBC's version of Founder's Centennial IPA. This one is coming in at around 5%, so should be very drinkable for the spring weather that is now upon the Georgia coast.

Next up - a 10-gallon batch of saison. Gonna divide it and jazz it up. I'll let you know how that goes.

 

 

Mini review - Big Boss Big Operator

Big Boss (@bigbossbeer) is a Raleigh brewery that produces very well-reviewed beers. Unfortunately, Big Boss is not yet available in South Carolina (that I'm aware of, anyway). I recently found myself in Charlotte, and paid a visit to the Flying Saucer location near UNCC. I was pleased to find Big Boss Big Operator on tap, and I took full advantage.

 

Big Operator is a Belgian black ale, brewed with cacao and aged with raspberries. It comes in at 8% ABV. This ain't no Purple Haze, though - it would be an excellent black without the raspberries. I found the fruit to more impart a pleasing aroma than any sweetness to the taste of the beer. All in all, a fantastic find. It's only available seasonally ( Big Boss' website says kegs only, January and February only), so move fast.

 

Mini review - Westbrook Vanilla Tree Dubbel

Purchased at The Community Tap (@communitytap) in Greenville, transported to Brunswick on ice. Pours a lovely dark brown. The vanilla nose is obvious, and not overpowering.

As you can see from the photo, it's medium-carbonated, and leaves some bubbles in the glass after a few minutes. This is a great example of a dubbel, and the vanilla comes out even more after the beer warms and opens up for a few minutes. Definitely one to try.