The Meddler

I have to say, Odells has been putting out some fine barreled brews as of late (see my last post) and The Meddler is a prime example of what they are up to. My first experience with an Oud style beer was Avery's Oud Floris which is exceptionally good. The Meddler follows as a damn fine example of how barreling and the residual yeast and bacteria in the barrel can affect the taste in so many good ways. The aroma is deep and rich with a bit or raisins and hazelnuts along with an almost peachy waft to it. The taste is pretty much the same but with that wonderful sour hit that I and so many love. The flavor is a bit sweet, sour, with back notes of caramel that really made me feel I was quaffing a damn good deal of a brew at around $15 a pop. The malt stands out with a touch of hops which is pretty characteristic of an Oud Bruin. The flavors of vanilla I particularly enjoyed as it rounded out the sourness and paired perfectly with the malt that is present in a good brown.

I strongly suggest you grab one of these beauties. I have one in the cellar and plan on getting one or two more to age. If I have the strength to keep it down in the basement.

cheers

D

Deconstructing Odell's "Deconstruction"

The cork shot like a bat out of hell and  the sound was of a fine champagne. Ok, a bit over doing it on the dramatics but holy s**t is this a good ale. As I write this the damn bottle is two feet away from me and I can smell the aromas wafting my way. I couldn't wait to get my hands on another one of these bottles just so I could blog about it. I had one last night while I made a pizza dinner for the family. Which included my dear-sainted mother whom knows her wine and naturally knows a good ale. She shared a bit with me in between her glasses of Chardonnay and she actually gasped after a sip or two. Mom's know best right? To call this a Beer sounds almost insulting as being too general. It's a barrel aged Golden Ale that...fuggit. I'll just say what it says on the bottle:

"A Golden Ale created by blending the final recipe with it's own barrel aged pilot-beers fermented with wild yeasts and lacto. Each individual barrel contributes a unique flavor from the wood chosen and the cultures resident to achieve subtle complexities that develop over time"

If this gets better over time I can't imagine how good it will be in a year, two years time. It pours like a perfect Belgian and quickly gives off aromas of a fine Chardonnay that married a smooth Saison and then had a 5 Barrel for a child. The esters are very pronounced and leave a fruity flavor of pineapple and apricot as it fades in your mouth. Damn, that aroma keeps filling up the space around me with a confidence that says "You want some of this beer guy?! Then here you go!" And like any good wine it just gets better as you let it breathe. When first opened it's the aroma more than the taste that impresses. 15 minutes later it evolves into a whole new beer. Tart stone fruit, a touch of caramel, hops, citrus, and even a bit of champagne. Like many breweries you can taste flavors of other beers they make. As stated on the bottle I quoted above there is pilot-beers in there to nudge it into the O'Dell direction of flavor. But it's pretty subtle. It has a character all on it's own. The malt is very well balanced with the tartness the wild yeast gave it. And the barreling gives it a sophistication that stands out all the while balancing the aforementioned flavors.

Granted it's a sour beer of sorts so if your not into that kinda thing then move on to another post. But if you are into sours do yourself a favor and grab this beauty while it's available. At roughly $14.99 a bottle it ain't cheap. But damn worth it.

cheers

D

Great Divide Belgian Style Yeti Imperial Stout (2011)

Last year I grabbed a bottle of this brew in hopes I would let it age for a while. The in-laws came in to town, from Petaluma, and I kind of got into a 'mode' of beer sharing. This was one of the first we dug into. I am not sure on how many Yeti's are out there these days. It's gotta be over a dozen. Right? This bottle was a 2011 bottled in July. The pour was what you would expect from any good Imperial Stout. Nice head, freakishly dark, and inviting. The smell was what really grabbed me. It has that nostalgic stout whiff but a hint of Belgian yeast which brightened it up a bit. Coffe came through and some chocolate. Again, like a classic good stout.

The taste, again nostalgic, was of a familiar stout that one loves and rememb ers from times past. But the capper is that Belgian hit that lingers on the finish. To the point where banana comes through granted you really pay attention and geek out and pay attention. Dates, raisins and also a bit of balck licorice. It only gets better as it warms up too. But not too warm...

git it

D

Funkwerks 'Scepter' Golden Ale

The wife and I just came home from Oskars. Not the Weasel but the resteraunt (Liquids and Solids). I imbibed on the Funkwerks Belgian IPA which was absolutely delicious. But this post is not about that. On the way home we promised to grab a bomber of Racer 5, which is great and cheap, but as fate would happen on the front range I noticed a new Funkwerks selection I have not tried. In fact, from what the dude told me at the liquor store they just released it to the masses. As of today...or something like that.

Like most Funkwerks concotions this is pretty damn smooth. With a nice hit of malt up front, which can be unusual with 'funk' brews, it really balances out. It's a good looking Ale, barrel aged with a cellar longevity of 3 years according to the bottle. Regardless, it's a Belgian beauty that has the expected spice and a smooth mouth feel that hits home. It's a biggin' too at 9.3% but with no heat or boozy taste whatsoever. It's always a bit of BS when I review beers that can cellar for time due to the fact I don't know what it will taste like 3 years from now. But then again it's what I have now and it may be what you grab for the night. And I highly recommend it.

git it

D

A day of Belgians at Mt. Sun

I won't go into how long we have been eating and imbibing at Mt Sun but let's just say many years. We know the owners and managers well enough to say hi and have conversations with. Whether at a Phish show or the brewery itself. Good folks who play by their own rules. I like that. On to the Belgians....

Currently Mt Sun has a handful of Belgians to choose from. This is not really like them to do so. But since new Brewer Jeff Ramirez from Ironworks in PA took over, things seem to be changing a bit for the better in terms of spreading their wings a bit. Don't worry, it's still the beloved hippie brewery serving delicious beers and food. Just more adventurous it seems. When I spoke to Jeff about the newer brett brews soon to come he said they brew offisite at a warehouse off of Arapahoe. So I think they may keep the Belgians coming considering Jeff's taste for these types ans styles. Good on him.

The first taste was the Ciel Lumineux Belgian Ale. Considering Mt Sun doesn't filter their beers too much this one was an exception. It looked and tasted almost pils like. It is a nice beer that is dry with all of the Belgian ale flavors one has come to expect here in the US. Hints of coriander, a bit of funk, spicy, etc. Or what the day manager called '...that wet horse blanket smell'. I can dig it. Anyway, the aroma didn't have much which the flavor made up for in this nice Belgian Ale.

The Bavarian Wheat had huge funk when whiffing along with some citrus notes. It looks like cloudy champagne which as you might guess it's un-filtered. The flavors are nutty, of all things, and a bit sour. But not too much. I think it's the smoothness of it all that made me like this one. But like many beers so un-filtered I wouldn't spend a night drinking this one. Live yeast can wreak havoc on ones innards. If you catch my drift.

Pater's Belgian Ale is perfect in appearance for what it is. Deep golden colors, perfect carbonation, and an impressive bleach white creamy head that you could float a quarter on. Love that. I'll dmit though I didn't get much aroma off of it. The taste is very biscuit-y with the mouth feel of an English Ale. Delicious. The hop presence is really mellow which makes it more of a malt lovers type. And it's damn easy to drink which I always like. I would love to see this in a firkin. Unfortunately Mt Sun doesn't do firkins. Well, they should. Just sayin'.

This last one is loved by the Mt Sun crew so I ad some high expectations going into it. It was good...but not great. Which of course is fine. It's just that it was chatted up quite a bit. Regardless, the Rouge de Brugges Belgian Red is nutty and malty with a beautiful red amber color that just makes you want to drink it by sight alone. It's fairly dry, almost to dry for my taste, with a slight note of blackberries. Actually, it had slight flavors of their Blackberry Wheat. Hmmmm. I think this one hs much potential but could use a bit more of everything. There I said it.

And then there's the FYIPA......

cheers

D

Tasting at Boulder's 'Shine'

The location of Shine has gone through more ownership's and resteraunts than any other location I know of in Boulder. Remember Red Fish? It's that location. And it's the same Brewer which I'll admit I was a bit hesitant going into tasting these beers in terms of liking them. I was never that big of a Red Fish fan. Shine (so Boulder) is owned by the 3 sister's who owned/ran Trilogy which closed a couple of years ago. I don't know them personally but they seem to know what they're doing by running an establishment that just screams Boulder. For better or worse. Let's just say it seems appealing to the 'rich-boulder-mom-hasn't-worked-in-years-lunching-around-town-with-baby-in-tow' type. Anyway, on to the brews.

The first taster was a gluten free beer (so Boulder), which for me is never good, called the Liberation. It's actually not bad. Slightly malty with a bit of coriander on the taste as well as a tad fruity. But like many gluten free beer it has that something missing. Regardless, it was refreshing on a 95 degree day.

Next up was the American Wheat. This is a seasonal. I have never been a huge fan of American wheat brews so going into this one I had to have an open mind. Mind open I gave a whiff. Not much there. I gave a taste...surprisingly good. Crisp, highly filtered, and a nice natural lemon hit. It has a sweet aroma to it that's quite nice as you whiff the brew while it's sipped. Without a doubt it's a wheat. Straightforward and not pretentious. So as far as an American Wheat mission accomplished.

Onto the Shine Pale Ale. More of my neighborhood. When smelling the brew you don't get much floral going on but when you taste is all comes out quite nicely. It has the bitter dankness of an IPA which actually impressed me. The malt and Pacific hops are balanced well with a big floral hit that had a faint back note of rose water. No, seriously it id. And it worked. This was one of my favorites.

Trilogy IPA didn't have that hop hit that most IPAs have when you give a whiff. But like the Pale the taste was dank and bitter but at the same time fairly mellow for your standard front range IPA. I'll admit I don't have much to report on this one as it didn't take me to places that would otherwise make me write more about it. 'Nuff said.

I have always loved a good Pils. Especially those brewed in the Czech style which what the Pohoda is. It has a big Pils taste with big biscuity flavors. And in front range fashion it's really hoppy. Like Oskar's Yella Pils hoppy. Which I really liked. It's dry, as it should be, with a nice toasted malt flavor that I really got into. Damn quaff-able. Concentrating on the flavors I tasted chamomile of all things. This taster I finished.

The Imperial Porter is a seasonal that I almost didn't try due to the fact that out of fairness I am not a big Porter guy. But, the bartender talked me into it as he himself stated he wasn't big on Porters but liked this one. I did too. It has that classic Porter taste but not as dry as most. It was almost stout-ish but had a certain brightness to it that made it manageable to drink on a super hot day. It's a bit sticky and weighs in on 8.7% yet was not boozy one bit. This is a good Porter.

Lastly I tasted the Down Dog (so Boulder) Imperial Red which threw me back to the days when Oasis was in town serving the Scarab Red. Spicy, a bit sweet, malty, and a great color and body to it. This may have been my favorite. It weighs in at 9% which surprised me when I was told as such. Again, not boozy. This red is worth digging into.

All in all I was satisfied with what I tasted at Shine. There was a few bland moments but in the words of Primus 'They can't all be zingers'. So true.

cheers

D

'Pond Hopper' Collaboration - Odelle's/Thornbridge

Pond Hopper is a very tasty collaboration between Odelle's and England's own Thornbridge Brewing. It's a stylishly smooth Double Extra IPA that weighs in around 8.9% yet has very little boozy taste. The collaboration among the two breweries on different continents is dictated by the presence of English malt an American hops. When first giving a sip the first I got was of honey and hoppy/flowery goodness. It has that perfect deep golden IPA color that is present in bigger IPAs. There is a nice nutty and vanilla aroma that hits your nose which compliments the sweet malty taste that really stand out. As is sipped more an more I noticed the citrus flavors coming out from the hops which gave it a real brightness which then mellows into the aforementioned caramel malt flavor. The taste lingers for a while and hits of caramel really start to stanbd out as it warms in your glass. Cheers to that. Git it.

cheers

D