Virtual Illusions

Today was the second of the Smithsonian/Brickskeller classes. The speaker du’jour was Dick Cantwell of Elysian Brewing Co located in Seattle, WA. We had six beers: Loki Lager, Bete Blanche Belgian-style tripel, Yuzu’s Belgian Golden Ale, The Wise ESB, Avatar Jasmine IPA, Draongstooth stout.

The early ones I thought were ho-hum for a Smithsonian/Brickskeller class. Early ones often are. The Bete Blanche was pretty good I thought the line really started to become solid with the ESB. The final three turned out pretty nice, but the Dragonstooh was called an oatmeal stout when it was an Imperial stout. If you aren’t prepared for that it can be a bit shocking. I think either the ESB or IPA were the best of line. Apparently the IPA is their primary seller.

We devised a simple drinking game based on when the annoying guy asked an annoying question. There is one in every class, though I guess it could always be the same one. By simple I mean when he asked a stupid question we drank.

The speaker was decent, told interesting stories, including being submerged in the beer we were currently drinking. He could have saved that story perhaps. Admitted serving his infant children beer, etc. I wonder how many brewers come to these things and admit some crime or another.

Anyway I have other entries to write so if you’ll excuse me.

Beer

Just got back from my Smithsonian beer “class.” If you are not lucky enough to at least know what one of these is, if not actually attending one, allow me to educate. These classes are held at the Brickskeller the premier beer bar in D.C. (and certainly the East coast and probably the U.S.). They have over 1,000 beers available though some jest ‘not all at once.’ This comes from the fact that invariably some or many beers ordered won’t be in stock. In my opinion this originates from the fact that their menu is static while their beer selection is fluid (Mmmm… yummy fluid).

Anyway Jason and Tom were there which was good since I didn’t really have confirmation that they had gotten tickets. I had heard that Jason got spousal permission, but I hadn’t heard that he had acquired actual tickets. At a party a few weeks ago Chris claimed he was going to sign up but that hardly counts and he didn’t seem to be there.

Anyway back to the “class”, a brewer, in this case Vinnie Cilurzo the owner/brewer of Russian River Brewing Co. of Santa Rosa, CA, comes by and talks about his beers as we taste them. Tonight we had samples (~5 oz) of nine beers. Russian River’s (RR) main claim to fame seems to be as the first brewer of a double or imperial IPA. In addition to that they seems to have two main beer lines, Big Hops and Belgium style.

Of the big hops line we tried Blind Pig IPA, Russian River IPA, Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger. As a disclaimer, I enjoy hops but rarely feel beers need more that can be found in a standard IPA. Pliny the Elder is the double IPA weighing in at 100 IBU and Pliny the Younger is a triple IPA weighing in at ‘Gobs” of IBU. Apparently the techniques for measuring IBUs become unreliable past 120 or so.

I didn’t feel the two basic IPA measured up to Dogfish Head 60 min which is easy enough to get. The hops were there but there was something about them that made me come away with the feeling that the flavor wasn’t as clean as it should/could have been. This is full on beer snob mode, if you handed me either I’d be happy enough.

The Elder and Younger had too much hops for my taste. I’ve had the style before and they aren’t a bad example, but at that hop level really all you can taste is hops everything else gets lost. So full marks for example of style, but not my favorite of styles.

The Belgium styled beers were much better to my taste. We had Damnation, Temptation, Little White Lie and Supplication. Supplication was by far the best. Vinnie started off calling it a brown ale, but this is a mistake. It may have gotten there by the wrong route, but if you tasted it you would be pretty sure it was a decent lambic. It had a bit of cherry, I might shave just a touch of the cherry off but it wasn’t enough to seriously notice if weren’t at a beer tasting.

Second favorite was Temptation which is a golden ale aged in Chardonnay barrels. Quite good. Little White Lie is an unfiltered spiced wheat. A very good summer beer. I would have preferred if its spiced/tartness was a bit higher, but I tasted it 6th so it is quite possible outside of the context of big hop ales it would have been near perfect.

The Temptation was okay but it didn’t seem to do anything special for me, just sort of average. The Perdition was a sort of hybrid thing, not really Pale Ale, not really Belgium. I suspect it will work itself to a good place eventually, but for the moment seems to still be a work in progress.

More stuff going on but that sums up the beer tasting.

Beer

via AlsoChorizo

Zafkiel? Is that you?

No, but since I’ve been invoked…

So far we’ve been talking about easy targets (Bud, Miller, etc) As a side note when I started homebrewing I bought 2 cases of natty bo and poured it down the sink for the bottles. Didn’t occur to me to drink even one.

As for harder targets I’ve got two well respected beers that I just can’t drink The first is the Sam Adams triple bock. Great looking bottle but neither I nor my roommate could finish it. The other (and I’ll be branded a heretic for this) is Thomas Hardys Ale. Also a beer I couldn’t finish.

Clearly high alcohol beers are not my favorite style, but I can usually drink them and I enjoy the style from certain breweries (Stone old guardian comes immediately to mind).

So what are the harder targets?

Note I can usually drink highly fruit beers I just prefer fruit beers where I can’t identify the fruit by taste alone. I like to be able to taste the flavor but have to work hard to be sure what it is. The less sweet ones are usually preferred as well.

–Zafkiel

Beer

Via coralville

This is not quite correct. I would maintain that it would be “stupid” to claim the brewer of the Pilsner beer the driver was drinking was directly responsible for the pedestrian’s death. The fault lies with the driver and to whatever factors directly caused him to misuse alcohol and an automobile.

I generally agree with you but there seems to be a disconnect between how society views alcohol and religion. Although society puts blame squarely on the shoulders of the drunk driver it also approaches alcohol with some trepidation. On the other hand religion is viewed as squeaky clean, can do harm, force for good.

Surely, if alcohol is to be approached carefully and restricted to those we (as a society) believe are mature enough to handle it, then religion deserves to have its image tainted by those who perform negative actions while under the influence of religion? I’m not suggesting it needs to shoulder the blame but it does need to be recognized as an enabling factor.

–Zafkiel

Beer, Culture, Philosophy/Religion, Politics

“If I’m going to drink wine coolers, tell me that its a wine cooler up front. Don’t piss on my shoes and tell me its raining, ok? This stuff has no tequila in it, and philosophically speaking, is the moral equavalent of Zima. May it flounder in Failed Marketing Project Hell.”

– Zool referring to the ever popular Tequiza

Beer, Quote

So I went to the philosophy on tap a couple days back, this one was covering Kant. Kant was a moral absolutist, which I’m pretty sure I’m dead against. But, he was the originator of a couple of points that I think are key to my personal philosophy.

Point one is the admission that perception does not make reality, but frankly there’s no point of talking about anything without postulating the common frame of reference provided by perception. My Beer may or may not be anything like what it really is in its true form, but that doesn’t much matter. True forms are interesting thought games but utterly useless in the understanding of people and societies. I can not prove or demonstrate even that the world exists and that is fine but there is no point in talking with others without the parties accepting that as a common vocabulary to speak from. We must postulate existence and a world defined by perception to gain any value in communicating with outside forces/entities.

The second Kantian notion that has guided my philosophy is the Categorical Imperative. I just found out what this means Tues. I always referred to it a reflexivity. An action can be judged to be good if it has universal applicability. Which mean I can’t judge an action simply from my own privileged position it also must be judged correct if fortunes are reversed. Making people work weekends without pay may be considered good to the company owners but it isn’t viewed correct by the one doing the work. It isn’t reflexive. I have yet to find a good way to write this so it is clear. It is about seeing with different eyes. The good action is judged right not only for oneself but for all the others it effects.

I’m not that naive, I understand there is no perfectly good action. Reflexivity is just an exercise to see in which direction lays the good.

Beer, Philosophy/Religion

Speaker: Garrett Oliver, The Brooklyn Brewery
He’s writing a book called “Brewmaster’s Table.” It’s due in march, probably released a year later.

G. Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse
Privatbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn, Kelheim, Germany
German wheat beer made with cascade (American) hops. Theses guys appearnlty make one of the best wheat beers.

Hennepin
Brewery Ommegana, Cooperstown, NY
Made with Sweet orange peel, and anise as adjuncts.

Saison de Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY
Made with bitter orange peel as adjunct.

Saison de Pipaix
Brasserie a Vapeu, Pipaix, Belgium
“Shocking to Americans,” Sharp, Acid-like, lemony, sour character.

Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale
Tuppers’ Brewing Co., Bethesda, MD
“Bracingly Hoppy”

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY

A Le Coq’s Imerial Extra Double Stout
Harvey & Son Ltd., Sussex, England
This has more of a wine character than a beer character.

Gales Millenium Ale
George Gale & Co., Portsmouth, England

New Glarus Raspberry Tart
New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI
American made Framborise

Quotes:

Brewing is all about intention.

The point of being an American is we get to steal everything from everybody else (paraphrase).

Notes:

Hemmepin, Saison de Brooklyn and Saison de Pipaix are beers in the Saison style. The best of style is Saison de Pont (”God in a Bottle”)(Saison Dupont Vielle Provision). Saison’s taste a lot like wheat beer but appearntly not necisarrily a wheat beer. They are mostly pale malts.

Shaukerlough was described as one of best smoke beers.

I’ve decided Sour flavour in the beer makes my mouth water in the finish phase of the beer. This I guess should be considered “Mouthfeel.”

John Moyer was revealed as the Rogue brewer.

Blind Tiger was noted as the Best Beer Bar in NY city.

Beer

I decided to start a Live Journal. This is just the beginning we shall see where it leads and whether I am a man worth speaking to or a forgotten annoyance.

I recently attempted to start a journal in my own home machine but I think it lacked accessibly and visibility. I love the concept of it being public even as I understand that no one will actually be reading this.

I’d like to start with a quote. It is from a beer class I’m taking. It is arranged by the Smithsonian and held in the Brickskeller.

“I consider Guinness like chocolate milk. I just love that stuff.”

–John mallett, Saaz Brewing Equip. & Services, 5/14/2001

Beer, Life