Best Beers 2010: #9 Bell’s Expedition Stout

A quick search of Bell’s on this site results in a lot of hits. Bell’s Beers is frequently on our list of best beers so it should come to no great surprise that they show up on this list, too. In this case, we look to Bell’s Winter Seasonal: The Expedition Stout. Expedition is an Imperial Stout. Available only between October to March, this is the perfect beer for the dark, cold winter months. According to the brewery, it uses twice as much grains and five times more hops than their flagship stout: Kalamazoo Stout. The result is a velvety smooth stout that warms the body as well as the soul. This is one of the many Imperial Stouts that got me through the Snowpocolypse the Mid-Atlantic witnessed last winter. It has been almost a year since I last drank this beer. But I still think about it often. And now that I am on the West Coast, there is nowhere to find it. I miss this beer a lot.

Photo Credit: Johnnydrunkenirishman/

Bell’s Expedition Stout
www.bellsbeer.com
Style: Imperial Stout
Ratebeer.com Score: 100 Points (99 for style)

Appearance: Inky black with viscus, oily consistency. Chocolate milk colored head with cappuccino foam-like  texture. No apparent carbonation. Excellent lacing.

Aroma: Chocolate, coffee, dark fruits (black cherry, plum, raisin), slight burnt toast or smoke. Hops are earthy and spicy; fresh tobacco, wet moss.

Taste: Reminiscent of aromas. Chocolate, toffee, hazelnut and burnt toast.

Mouthfeel: Velvety smooth with a fully chewiness. Very slight carbonation. A deep, warm booziness. A lingering sticky sweetness.

Imperial Stouts (like yesterday’s Dark Lord), are notoriously difficult to pair with food. Often big beers like this have an off putting umami tang that makes them a poor choice with chocolates, cherries, berries or other dessert items. Expedition lacks a distinct umami note but is rich in the chocolate, cherry, and berry notes. Thus, making it a wonderful choice to pair with dessert. On the other hand, it is such a full beer, it could just act as dessert itself. Also, I would pair this beer with a hearty red meat. A chili or stew would be a perfect match to it. Something that is sturdy and will not fall down next to it, but would also benefit from its bold flavors.

Best Beers of 2010: #10 3 Floyds Dark Lord

There are some beers where the reputation precedes itself. These are the Holy Grails of beer. These are the beers that make the drinker a holy guru just by having consumed it. Whether these beers deserve the accolades are beside the point. They are great just because everybody thinks they are.

Usually these beers are on a super limited release. So limited, in fact, one has to be at the right place at the right time in order to get it. Usually at the brewery on the release date. Belgium’s Westvleterlin is an example of this. Another example is this one: 3 Floyds Dark Lord. Available only with a ticket, at the Munster, Indiana, brewery on the last Saturday in April, Dark Lord is one of the rarest beers in the world. People trade dearly beloved items from their collections in order to get a ticket to Dark Lord Day. People will travel the world to get to a small city on the outskirts of Chicago. It is a big deal.

I actually have never been to Dark Lord Day in Indiana. Although I know some one who has. He says it is an amazing time. Beer drinkers from all over the world come and trade, share and talk beer. It is a festival to rival any domestic Oktoberfest celebration. And it is a thing of legends.

Instead, I got my taste of The Dark Lord at a 3 Floyds tasting last June that coincided with the Savor festival in Washington DC. The brewmaster flew in from Indiana with about a dozen beers, all of them great! From their amazing American Wheat (Gumballhead) to their barleywines and imperial ales, I loved them all. But in the end, the penultimate beer was The Dark Lord. Made with Intellegentia Coffee, vanilla, molasses and aged for a year on Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels, it was intense, smooth and (as the name suggests) dark. Just a little three ounce pour sent me far and away. Maybe someday I will be able to make it out to Munster for a Dark Lord Day. But in the meantime, I will just have to hang on to the memory.

3 Floyds Dark Lordhttp://www.darklordday.com/
Style: Imperial Russian Stout
Ratebeer.com Score: 100 Points (100 for Style)

Photo Credit: pivo.blog.hu

Appearance: Dark, through and through. Slight ruby highlight with thick, mousse-like mocha head. No apparent carbonation.

Aroma: Espresso, caramel, bourbon, oak, vanilla. Slight umami/soy sauce tang. Earthy hop aromas.

Taste: Coffee, chocolate, vanilla, oak, bourbon whisky, umami/soy sauce meatiness. Booziness on the back palate.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, chewy and velvety. Boozy heat and astringency.

As for food pairings, I would not pair this with anything. A post-dinner aparatif seems like the perfect job for this one. But if I had to choose something, sweet red meat would be perfect. Fillet Mignon or prime rib would be ideal. Or, if you blew all your budget on the beer, meatloaf with mashed potatoes.

Saying “Goodbye” to “The Brick”

Photo credit: WTOP.com

Today is a sad day for beer drinkers everywhere, especially me. It is the final day of The Brickskeller, that venerable Washington DC institution and mecca for beer lovers everywhere. After more than 54 years, The Brick (as it is lovingly called by its fans) will close its doors for the final time.

The Washington Post has a very good update and interview with its owner, Dave Alexander. It is an especially sad day for me. I worked at The Brickskeller for almost a year. And it is what inspired this blog. I met some of my best friends there (both human and beer alike) and I am so very sad to see it go.

Depending on whether or not you believe the hyperbole, the Brickskeller helped set the tone for modern beer culture. They claim to have been the first to host beer tastings in the late 1980’s and their final tasting was last week. They claim to have given such young upstarts as Sam from Dogfish Head the boost up they needed to become great. And nearly every beer bar on the Eastern Seaboard has at least one alumnus of The Brick on their Staff. Greg Engert of Churchkey DC is one of the most famous of the former Brick employees. His quotes have been in the Washington Post, The New York Times and on NPR. He once said that he respected The Brickskeller for being a “liquid library” teaching him everything he knows about beer. I would agree. After one year working at the Brick, I still had not tasted everything on the menu (the largest in the world according to the Guinness World Records), though I tried my damnedest.

There are a lot of reasons why the Brick went under. And I am sure no one knows exactly why. It would be easy to blame the slow economy. Others would blame mismanagement by the owners. I would like to think the Brick was done-in by its own success. When I moved to Washington DC in 2007, there were very few bars with a quality beer list. You could find some places with a couple good beers on tap. And most liquor stores and corner stores would carry the usual macrobrews. But by the time I left earlier this year, a new restaurant or bar was not taken seriously unless it had at least a dozen beers on tap. And they all had to be quality. Churchkey, with its over 30 beers on tap and six cask ales was hailed for its list. Pizza Paradiso had a beer list longer than their pizza menu. The Black Squirrel has worked to become the third brewpub in DC. The Biergarten on H St. has over a dozen German beers on tap. Meridian Pint only serves American craftbrew. And that doesn’t even count the dozens of new bars and others that have stepped up their game since I have left. Corner stores, liquor stores and grocery stores have all picked up their game as well. It is common now to find Magic Hat, Dogfish Head, and Flying Dog replacing tall boys and 40s in up and coming neighborhoods. All this in less than 3 years. When I first started at The Brick in November of 2009, DC was considered a “beer wasteland” that was starting to “get better” by a visiting brewer. By the time I left in the following Summer, Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada said that DC was a “world class beer city”. Greg Koch of Stone concurred by adding “no city in California has the quantity and quality of beer that DC does.”

And so, it is with a heavy heart, I say “goodbye” to the “Brick”. The new owners have promised to keep it as a beer bar with a trimmed down menu and an improved ambiance. But the name stays with the Alexander family. I wish them the best of luck and toast the loss of a good friend.

Holiday Gift Giving Guide 2010

Folks, it is just two weeks left until Christmas. And if you are still scratching your head trying to figure out what to get the beer drinker in your life, we are here to help.

This time last year, we recommended some things you can get your beer drinker. And if we may say so, it is still a really good list.

We have a few ideas to update the list.

Books and Movies! A bunch of really good beer books have come out in the past year. We can really recommend Randy Mosher’s Tasting Beer. It is quite possibly one of the best books on beer history, production and consumption on the market. The Naked Pint is also a really good introduction to beer drinking. And 1,001 Beers to Drink Before You Die is one of the most helpful books in our library. The documentary Beer Wars is a really good look at the rise and struggles of craft breweries in the United States.

Kegerator– What beer drinker wouldn’t love having delicious beer on tap at their every whim? For less than $500, you can surprise the beer drinker in your life with their own kegerator. Or, if you are handy, you can pick up a pretty cheap bulk freezer/fridge off of Craig’s List and convert it into a Kegerator yourself. There are a lot of different designs available on-line.

Beer Cellar– Does the beer lover in your life have a large collection of vintage bottles? Where are they being kept? In the back of the fridge? In the basement on a bookshelf? Or even (heaven forbid!) in the back of the closet? Make sure their beer is stored correctly, safely and neatly by investing in a beer cellar. For just a few hundred dollars, your beer collection can be stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment in order to ensure proper aging.

And don’t forget to check out last year’s recommendations. There are some really good ideas there, too. Including a trip to a famous beer city or homebrew supplies.

And happy holidays!

How to Pour a Beer

There are a lot people out there who have asked me how to properly pour a beer. This robot does a pretty good job. Although I would like to see some more head on the top. But when it comes to robots pouring my beer, who am I to complain?

From make magazine.

The Best of the Wurst!

Photo Credti: *Noema* CC

It’s that time again! That time of year that rings in the hearts of all beer drinkers everywhere. Oktoberfest! Not only that, but it is the 200th celebration of the first Oktoberfest. Originally it was a celebration of the Prince of Baveria’s wedding, it soon became a celebration of the harvest and the beginning of the brewing season. Now it is just a celebration of all things beer. And unlike St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo, it is a holiday actually celbrated by Germans.

We have covered Oktoberfest beers in our section on European Amber Lagers. So today, we will focus on that other staple of Oktoberfest, the sausages. Now sausages are just a small part of the Oktoberfest food. Visitors also eat chicken, ham, noodles, preztels and fish on a stick (because what is a fair without something on a stick?). But sausages are probably the most popular German food in the United States. There are alot of differnt types of sausages. And each comes from a different region with different variations. So let’s break it down for you so that you don’t look like “Eine komplette Idot”

There are two main types of sausages: fresh (served hot) and spreadable (served cold and spread on bread).

The fresh, hot sausage is what you will probably see most at and Oktoberfest celebration.

You are probably familiar with Bratwurst already. You see those at baseball games and at cook outs. It is a pale sausage made priamarily with veal and pork. It is spiced with nutmeg and other spices.

And you may be familiar with frankfurter. Although what Americans consider “frankfurter” is more like Weinerwurst. Frankfurter is made out pork and bacon fat and then smoked. Weinerfurter is more like American hot dogs. It is made out of pork and beef and then covered with garlic.

However, at the real deal, you will most likely see Weisswurst. Weisswurst is German for “White sausage” and is, as the name suggests, very pale. It is made from veal, cream and eggs. And is very delicately flavored. Traditionally, it is served with rye bread, saurkraut (pickled cabbage) and beer.

At your American celebrations, you may also see  Knockwurst. Knockwurst is a short, plump sausage made from veal and corriander and is often grilled.

There are loads of other sausages you probably won’t see very often at your Oktoberfest celebrations. But they include:

• Bierschinken—with chunks of ham and pistachios
• Bierwurst—coarse-textured sausage flavored with juniper berries
• Blutwurst—”blood sausage” fried like English black pudding

As for the spreadable sausages, you probably are not going to find a whole lot of those at your Oktoberfest, unless your host is very adventurous. Americans generally don’t care for their sausages in a spreadable form.

Liverwurst is the most well known of the spreadable kinds. All liverwurst must have at least 30% liver in them. And there are many varieties depending on region. Although the most popular kind is Braunschweiger which is made with milk and eggs.

Cervelat similar to Italian salami, a slicing sausage of pork and beef with spices and often mustard or garlic. It is most often eaten on pieces of dark rye bread.

There you have it! You can now identify your sausages and party with the “wurst” of them! Prost!

5 Beers I am Saying “Goodbye” To For A While

Earlier in the week, I posted 5 beers from the West Coast I am really excited about. You can read about them here. Today, I am sharing 5 beers I am really going to miss. These are beers from the East Coast/Mid-West that are not available here on the West Coast. It really is a bummer. But it gives me all the more reason to make it out East more often. And maybe, a good friend in the East would want to undergo an illicit beer trade with me?

1. Bell’s Beers-
bellsbeer.com

Bell’s beers are amazing. How amazing? They consistently make into our best beers count downs. They almost always make our top five. Bell’s has been mentioned in our top Bocks, IPAs, and Wheats categories. They also have a boat load of other beers we have not yet reviewed. I am not sure how I will be able to tell when Spring has arrived without Oberon. Or how I will survive winter without Expedition Stout. Or how summer will be summer without Two Hearted. Bell’s is just heads and shoulders above so many beers, and I cannot get it here. What a bummer!

2. Founders Brewing–
foundersbrewing.com

Founders is also one of my all time favorite beers. Last year, their Centennial IPA and Breakfast Stout were my number two and one favorite beers of the year respectively.  Their beers are amazing, innovative, and iconoclastic all at once. They have beautiful bottle art. And they are just well put together. In my mind, Founders can do no wrong. That is why I am so sad to see it go. I will miss you, Founders; particularly you Kentucky Breakfast Stout and your Double Trouble double IPA. Maybe someday, soon, I will make it out to Michigan and make a pilgrimage to you and Bell’s.

3. Heavy Seas-
hsbeer.com

Heavy Seas is the beer that put the “Charm” in “Charm City”. Their beers are big, playful, and tasty. The best part? The pirates. Definitely the pirates. Each beer is nautically themed (harkening back to the days when the Pirates and Buccaneers ruled the seas and the Eastern Seaboard). Their triple dry-hopped IPA did not make it on our best of Pale Ales and IPAs a few months back. And that was probably a mistake. So chewy and fully of hops, it is a deliciously big IPA. And their Imperial Stout sustained me through the Snowpocolypse a few months back. I am definitely going to miss Heavy Seas and their delicious 22 ounce Pyrate Fleet series with barrel aged barleywines, double and triple IPAs and other crazy concoctions.

4. Duck Rabbit-
duckrabbitbrewery.com

They do things a little differently in the South. And for that reason, no one should be surprised by the work the Duck Rabbit brewey has been doing in North Carolina. Not quite English style ales and not quite American style ales, the malt forward but strongly hoppy beers are as enigmatic as the duck rabbit on their logo. Their Milk Stout is big, thick and black with a firm white head on its shoulders. And their brown ale has a large ammount of maple and nut but with a distinct hoppy twang of mint, spruce and citrus. All around a very interesting brewery taking charge of what they like and never apologizing for it.

5. D.G. Yuengling & Son-
yuengling.com

Ok, So Yuengling may not be the best beer around. But it is the oldest. The Yuengling brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania is the oldest continiously running brewery in the United States. Their success relies on decent beer sold for dirt cheap. Go to any party east of the Appalachians and there is a really good bet that there will be a twelve pack of Yuengling there. Go to a show or a bar and Yuengling will be the cheapest beer there, competing against PBR for the attention of people who want cheap beer. Its not that I am going to be wanting a Yuengling, per se. Its just that sometimes, when one wants a cheap beer that does not taste like water, yuengling is the way to go.

5 Beers I Cannot Wait For In California

The last few weeks have been quiet here at The Thinking Person’s Beer. My fiance and I have been packing up all of our worldly posessions and shipping them across the country. We have moved from DC to the Bay Area. It has been a bit gruelling, both emotionally and physically. And I have not had a lot of time to be posting. But we are in California now and getting settled in. One of the things that got me through the trip was knowing that there are so many great breweries to explore here on the West Coast that we cannot get on the East Coast. Here, I am going to share five breweries I cannot wait to try now that I am here. Tomorrow we will list five more that we will be leaving behind in the East.

5 Beers I Cannot Wait For:

1. Russian River-
RussianRiverBrewing.com

With Pliney The Elder and Pliney the Younger, Supplecation and other amazing beers we cannot find on the East Coast, I am really excited to give them all a try. The folks who revolutionized barrel aged beers as well as incorporating souring bugs, are kind of a Holy Grail for beer geeks. A friend brought me a bottle of Supplecation for me a few months ago–soured with Brett and cherries, it was so amazingly deep and thought provoking, I cannot wait to see what else they can do. I have already seen Pliney The Elder on draft at a local brew pub. It blew my mind when I saw it.

2. Full Sail/Session-
fullsailbrewing.com

We’ve mentioned Full Sail before for their enviromental practices. But I am most excited about their low alcohol “session” lager which comes in these cool 11oz stubbies with Rock Paper Sissors themed bottle caps. A six pack is perfect to split with a friend. Loser (best two out of three) treats the winner to the next six pack. Session may just become my new “go-to” beer for parties and get togethers. Sometimes, there are few things as satisfying and refreshing as a well made session lager.

 

 

3. Alaskan Brewing-
alaskanbeer.com

Alaskan Brewing:West Coast::Dogfish Head:East Coast. Ubiquitous, off-kilter, solidly brewerd beers that rightfully earn a cult status and a bunch of awards. Their Alderwood Smoked Porter is a thing of legend. And I am definitely looking foward to trying all of these beers.

4. Lost Coast-
lostcoast.com

Other than Alaskand and New Belgium, this is possibly one of the most sought after “we don’t carry that here” beer in DC. Their Downtown Brown is well balanced, leaning toward an English Brown but never forgetting its American Roots. I am super interested in trying this and its whole line of beers from that capital of mind altering substances–Humbolt County.

5. New Belgium- 
NewBelgium.com

When it comes to New Belgium, I am not a hater. But neither am I an acolyte. I am just not that impressd by Fat Tire. Their version of a Belgian Pale Ale is tasty, but I think there are a bunch out there that are much tastier, including De Konnick and Palm. But I did like Erik’s Ale when I tried it and I am interested in trying some of their other beers, including their Organic Belgian White and their Ranger IPA.

Tomorrow, we will be sharing the 5 beers I will be saying “Goodbye” to for a while as they are not available on the West Coast.

Friday Open Comments: What’s On Your Mind?

Photo Credit: Zooey_

It’s Friday! Belly up to the bar and tell us what’s on your mind. What are you excited about this weekend? What has you down? Drink any good beers lately? Do you have any questions, comments, or suggestions? Any ideas for future blog posts?

I Bet I “Can”!

Several times now, we have been praising the lowly beer can. We have become “canvangelists” and promoting beer in a can whenever possible. The benefits are great and the costs are low. The benefits are as follows:

• They cost less than glass
• They break less often
• They weigh less than glass (resulting in less expensive shipping costs and a smaller carbon footprint)
• No skunking
• They get colder faster and stay that way longer
• They are easier to recycle
• The beer inside stays fresher, longer

People are hesitant about drinking beer from a can. People of an older generation may remember beer cans when they were tin. They remember the tinny, rusty flavors they imparted to the beer. But those days are over. The inside of the beer can is now coated in a plastic epoxy that prevents metallic tastes from entering the can. And even people who never drank beer from the old design may be hesitant as they associate beer in a can with cheap, uninspiring American lagers. But in the short time since Oskar Blues introduced craft beer in a can, the trend has taken off. And I have wagered with several tables a beer that I can name more delicious craft beers in a can than they can name cheap, uninspiring beers in a can. I even offer to let them count malt liquor. I have yet to have any one take me up on that bet. But I am going to prove my point here, today. Let us begin with the bland, cheap, uninspiring beers that most people associate with beer in a can.

Uninspiring Beers (By Brewery):

• Anheuser-Busch

Budweiser
Bud Light
Bud Ice
Bud Ice Light
Busch Beer
Busch Light
Busch Ice
Hurricane High Gravity
Hurricane Ice
Hurricane Malt Liquor
King Cobra
Natural Light (Natty Light)
Natural Ice (Natty Light)
O’Doul’s N/A
Busch’s N/A

Total: 15

• F.X. Matt

Utica Club

Total: 1

Photo Credit: Totsie 14 CC

• Heinekin International Brewers

Heinekin
Heinekin Light
Tecate
Tecate Light

Total: 4

• Molson/Miller/Coors Brewing Company

Foster’s
Miller Genuine Draft
Miller High Life
Miller Light
Sharp’s Miller
Coors’ Banquet Beer
Coors’ Light
Keystone
Keystone Light
Magnum 22 Malt Liquor
Milwaukee’s Best
Milwaukee’s Best Light
Hamm’s
Mickey’s Malt Liquor
Olde English “800” Malt Liquor
Red Dog
Sparks
Steel Reserve 211

Total: 18

• Pabst Brewing
  

Colt 45 Malt Liquor
Lone Star
National Bohemian (Natty Bo)
Old Milwaukee
Old Milwaukee Light
Old Milwaukee Ice
Old Style
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Pabst Blue Ribbon Light
Schaefer
Schlitz
Schlitz Malt Liquor
Stroh’s

Total: 13

Grand Total: 51

And now we go on to focus on Craft beer and decent corporate beers. (Big, Big, Big Thanks to CraftCans.com for pretty much doing all the work for me.) According to CraftCans.com, there are currently 117 craft brewers in the world who are putting their beers in a can! They have a grand total of 283 individual beers in a can. That is more than 5 times the amount of beers in a can that the Big Boys are doing. And that is not even counting the very tasty beers in a can that corporate giants like A-B and Diagio are doing. If we included Guinness (Diagio), Boddington’s (A-B), Tetley’s, Belhaven Scottish Ale into the list, we are nearly at 290 tasty beers in a can. Let’s even say that my list above is incomplete. Let’s say, I happened to have forgotten or missed some 10 more uninspiring light American lagers, we are still nowhere near the amount of great beers that come in cans.

Still not convinced that great beers come in a can? Here is a list of some excellent breweries that have begun canning their beers.

Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Avery Brewing
Brooklyn Brewing
Caldera Brewing
Cisco Brewers
Harpoon Brewery
Lancaster Brewing Company
Maui Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing Company
Oskar Blues Brewery
Pyramid Brewery
Saranac Brewing Company
Ska Brewing Company
Sly Fox Brewing Company
Spoetzel Brewery
Surley Brewing Company

Those are all some rather well known and highly acclaimed beers. Why would a brewery risk its reputation and profits on a beer can if they did not think it would help the bottom line?