412. BBC Bourbon Barrel Bière de Mars, BBC Bourbon Barrel Heine Brothers Coffee Stout, and New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red

Tonight I headed on over to Jeffrey’s to meet up with him and Jeff for some good ol’ fashioned beer sampling. We had kind of an odd mix for tonight’s drinking smorgasbord, but all three were tasty in their own right. The two beers from BBC paired nicely both because they were from the same Special Reserve Series, but the Bière de Mars and the New Glarus were, while not similar, very complimentary. At least they were once the Bière de Mars warmed up. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Previously, we’ve sampled Heine Brothers Coffee Stout (the unoaked version), Rye IPA 75, Brandy Barrel Aged Queen’s Knickers and American Pale Ale from Bluegrass Brewing Company, and Fat Squirrel Brown Ale from New Glarus.

BBC Bourbon Barrel Bière de Mars
This beer has a super-oaky nose—the creamy vanilla oak sweetness overpowered pretty much everything else here. It starts with a sweet front that dries out quickly (it tastes like via the oak, since it is even creeping in here), opening up the middle to a creamy oaky bomb that continues on into the finish with tannic flavors that linger on the palate. At this point, it was interesting and tasty, and the group consensus was that it needed to be aged a bit to take some of the oakiness out of the body. However, as it warmed, the oakiness faded into the background, allowing some of the Bière de Mars characteristics to emerge. Here, the creamy vanilla hints of the oak merged well with the dry malt sweetness and Belgian yeast character. While I thought it was good before, the nuance that developed was delicious and downright impressive. Kudos, BBC.

ABV: 8.5%

BBC Bourbon Barrel Heine Brothers Coffee Stout
After the gratuitous snickering at the name of the coffee makers, we poured our second beer. The nose was a rich mix of nuttiness, dark chocolate, and coffee. Beginning with sweet chocolate, Heine Brothers Coffee Stout moved into a drier middle that featured a nutty rich coffee flavor before the slight chalkiness and roastiness of the finish. I forgot to take more notes because the Bière de Mars was finally starting to warm up, and was getting a lot tastier. However, this beer also got better with some warmth, although my nod for the best beer of the evening goes to our next beer...

From justdrinkbeer: “An oatmeal stout brewed with English roasted barley and caramunich malts to impart a roasty and slightly sweet malt flavor. The Heine Brothers specially roasted organic Mexican coffee is added in two doses. A ration is stirred into the hot unfermented wort to extract coffee flavor. Then freshly brewed coffee is also added after fermentation is complete to impart a fresh coffee flavor and aroma. An additional conditioning in Woodford Reserve Borubon Barrels for 90 days compliments this already robust beer with notes of bourbon and oak. ”

ABV: 7.5%

New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red
Pouring a light bubbly cherry, Wisconsin Belgian Red has a very sweet cherry nose mixed with candy sweetness underneath. The body is light, with spritzy bright candy sweetness and cherry flavors blended beautifully in the body. The finish is dry and fruity while the body light, smooth, and clean—there is an evenness and balance across the profile in both flavor and mouthfeel that was enjoyable. Very light and very drinkable—it tastes like melted cherry Otter Pops, but in a good way. This is one of the more interesting beers I’ve tried in a while—I’m glad Jeffrey decided to bust it out, as I had never tried it before, and it was far, far better than I anticipated. Damn, that was some tasty beer. And already the scheming to score some more begins...

From the New Glarus website: “You hold the marriage of wine and beer. Belgian Red is a tapestry of flavor. This beer is brewed with whole Montmorency Cherries, Wisconsin Farmed Wheat and Belgian Roasted Barleys, lagered in oak tanks and balanced by Hallertau hops we aged in our brewery one full year. Over a pound of Door County Cherries in every bottle makes this beer uniquely ‘Wisconsin.’ So unique, in fact, that we applied for a patent. Expect this beer to be ruby red, with a medium body that is highly carbonated and intense with cherry flavor and bouquet. Serve your friends Belgian Red in a brandy snifter or champagne flute and toast life with beer from the land of Wisconsin.”

ABV: 4.0%

Also, the funniest comment about beer I’ve read in a long long time: “Whew. You can’t swing a dead cat in this state without knocking over a firkin of mild.” Dag. Thanks, Jeff. You made me spit out some beer while reading, which is always the sign of good times and clever verbiage.

(9/17/2010)

298. BBC Heine Brothers Coffee Stout

Another big bottle from Bluegrass Brewing Company; we’ve previously sampled Rye IPA 75, Brandy Barrel Aged Queen’s Knickers and American Pale Ale.

Heine Brothers Coffee Stout pours a dark chocolate brown with a thick tan head that slowly winds its way down to minimal coverage. The nose has that coffee extract aroma—slightly synthetic—and a bit of roastiness. Starting with soft roasty sweetness, Heine Stout moves into clean coffee flavors in the middle, and finishes with some more of that coffee, a bit of sweetness, and a touch of lingering roastiness. The beer is medium bodied with medium to low carbonation that does rise a bit towards the end. The mouthfeel is smooth and clean and possibly a bit too even across the larger profile. Heine Stout could use a bit more roastiness through the middle to back up the coffee flavors, and some of the silkiness that you get with a thicker oatmeal stout. No real downsides to this beer, but not terribly exciting either.

From the Rate Beer website: “Bluegrass Brewing Company has brewed a winter warming coffee stout using a Heine Brothers organic, fair trade coffee grown in Chiapas, Mexico. It will be available for purchase at Bluegrass Brewing Company on Friday, February 9th while supplies last. ‘I just tasted the stout - it has a wonderful balance between coffee and stout flavors,’ said Bluegrass Brewing Company head brewer, Jerry Gnagy. Heine Brothers co-owner Mike Mays and head coffee roaster Todd Stanis collaborated with Gnagy to choose the Mexican coffee and give it a medium roast and a coarse grind to best bring out the flavor. ‘This Mexican coffee has a medium body and an almost chocolatey finish that will hold up well in such a hearty beer,’ said Stanis. ‘Should be a perfect match.’ This oatmeal stout is brewed with English roasted barley and caramunich malt which gives a roasty and slightly sweet malt flavor. The addition of flaked oats lends creaminess and body to this pitch black ale. The coffee will be added to the hot wort (unfermented beer) after boiling. This will extract good flavor without adding bitterness or burnt flavors. Freshly brewed coffee will also be added to the beer after fermentation is completed and the beer is ready to be served. This will give the freshest coffee flavor and aroma.”

ABV: 6.5%

(4/24/2010)

262. BBC Rye IPA 75

Our third beer from Bluegrass Brewing Company, which is still located in Louisville, KY; we’ve previously sampled Brandy Barrel Aged Queen’s Knickers and Bluegrass American Pale Ale.

Rye IPA 75 pours a deep copper with a minimal ivory head; the nose is spicy, mostly from the rye, with some resiny hop aromas running around the edges of the spicy. Starting with rye spiciness and some caramel sweetness, Rye IPA move into some bitterness and hop resin flavors before finishing with a return of caramel sweetness and more of the rye spiciness, with a bit of lingering bitterness from the hops. The mouthfeel is a bit thick, syrupy, and quite heavy; it has a decent amount of legs on the glass, is a bit goopy in the mouth, and is much heavier that one would expect for a 7.5% ABV beer—it has a viscosity and movement in the glass that we haven’t really seen before in a beer. The hop flavors are good, but they don’t stand up to the thick malt and rye body; the nose is more rounded and even than the body and flavor profile. The carbonation is medium to low, but rounds the beer nicely into the finish. This beer would be better with a lighter body; the nose and flavors are good, but the body is too big and sticky for the beer as it currently stands—they need to up the ABV to make this an Imperial, or lighten the body. But the current beer is more in between—while that could make it a DIPA, it still has too much body with not enough payoff for that category. Stripping back the body to make this a solid Rye IPA seems the best direction to head.

From the Bluegrass website: “Gorgeous orange color, bright fresh clean hops, delicious hops dominate but nice minty rye flavor is very good, well done crisp beer; nice job, like the kick the rye gives.”

ABV: 7.5%

(3/19/2010)

238. Bluegrass Brandy Barrel Aged Queen’s Knickers

Another beer from Bluegrass Brewing Company; our last beer was Bluegrass American Pale Ale. We picked up a growler of this from the Party Source in Newport, KY on the way back from Louisville, and held onto it for a couple of days so we could have some friends over to share it. After all, a half gallon of 12.0% Old Ale shared between two people spells a trip to the hurt locker. Sure, we’d have fun drinking it then, but the next morning would spell ugly with like about six us and maybe three or four ls. And besides, this beer is too good to waste as a session beer.

Queen’s Knickers starts with a rich, sweet, floral nose—it smells almost like a mead, and has maple syrup undercurrents running amongst the various aromas. There is also a slight dose of oaky woodiness in the nose. It pours a clear tannish copper color with a creamy ivory head. Q’sK starts soft in flavor on the palate; it is malty sweet with maple syrup flavors in the front before moving into a middle that carries rose and flower petal hints along with oak and vanilla flavors. The beer finishes rather clean with some lingering creamy wood characteristics; it has a medium body and a good bit of creaminess to the mouthfeel. Overall, an excellent and nuanced beer. Flavors are light and well balanced—subtle complexity is the name of the game here. While the nose may be a bit bigger than the body, there is a nice balance between the beer, alcohol, and wood flavors across the profile of the beer—nothing sticks out or is obtrusive, rather a clean balance is created that gives depth and character to the beer. We’d love to get our hands on some more of the Queen’s Knickers, but I’m guessing that’s not happening in the near future. Nonetheless, a treat worth savoring.

There’s nothing about this on the BBC website, and barely anything on Beer Advocate. Why do I feel like I got away with something by scoring a growler of this?

ABV: 12.0%

(2/23/2010)

180. Bluegrass American Pale Ale

Bluegrass Brewing Company is in Louisville, KY. This beer marks the end of our solo beer drinking holiday tours, as I am back in Dayton and ready for more Midwest hijinx. Described on the bottle as a “hoppy full-bodied American Pale Ale,” Bluegrass’s Pale Ale is a cloudy copper with a rocky, large head. There is not much overall aroma: slightly sweet and slightly bready malt aromas combine with spicy and piney hops. It starts fairly sweet, with a prominent crystal malt character, and then moves into a more well-rounded, definitely American malt profile, and finishes on the sweet side, but cleanly. Hop bitterness and flavor appears in the middle, with grassy, piney, and floral/citrus notes. The grassiness lingers through the ending, which is appropriately bitter. Medium bodied mouthfeel that is slightly creamy, smooth, and well carbonated. A decent beer overall—a bit more sweetness than we’d like, but not overdone. Technically ok, but not compelling; they could up the hop presence all around to better balance out the malt profile.

From the BBC website: “An American standard, BBC APA is a full bodied and heavily hopped American Ale. It is copper in color and brewed with a blend of pale and crystal malts, balancing the citrus and pine flavors from large doses of American and English hops to create a very drinkable, hoppy ale. BBC APA is a hophead’s dream!”

Bad pour! Bad pour!

ABV: 5.79%
IBU: 55.2

(12/27/2009)