Posts Tagged ‘brewdog’
The Friday Question
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Before I get on to the nitty gritty of The Friday Question it’s time for a little shameless self promotion … this coming Tuesday (21st), William’s Winter Warmer will be the featured craft draft at Clyde’s in Columbia and of course there will be some glassware to give away. On Thursday 23rd I’ll be at The Mount Airy Inn with a cask of Best Bitter from about 6.30pm, I hope you’ll be able to come out for a pint or two!
Jacob’s Winter Celebration has been racked into casks dry hopped with Liberty and the remainder of the batch is in conditioning tank, again, dry hopped with Liberty. The cask destined for release at The Pratt Street Ale House also has American White Oak added to it. The Scottish fermentation is just about done. Casks will be racked next week and will be distributed at the end of the month. The draft product will follow at the start of the New Year. Today I’m brewing “Godgifu”, a chestnut brown ale which will be conditioned on French oak … expect to see it out and about in mid-January. Brian of Stillwater Ales is brewing his Anniversary Ale over at the Dog Brewery today and we’ll be using the resultant yeast slurry from that fermentation as the pitching yeast for Channel Crossing Vol. #3 scheduled to be released at Max’s Belgian Beer Festival in February.
So, onto last week’s Friday Question … I asked what percentage of the malt grist for “Godgifu” would be wheat. Most of my brews contain a little wheat, maybe 2 or 3% of the grist by weight. As you may know wheat contributes compounds that have a positive effect upon head retention of beer (they help stabilize carbon dioxide bubbles, prolonging them and thus the head of the beer). I figured that as I was using chestnuts in this brew, which may contribute lipids and other such head-negative compounds, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to increase the amount of wheat used a little. The total amount of wheat used in this brew was 7.8% of the total grist by weight which makes Trevor the winner (again!) with his guess of 7.5%, congratulations sir. Not only did Trevor win the Friday Question a few weeks ago but I believe that he also won a recent Pratt Street Ale House facebook page competition! If I were you Trevor I’d head to Atlantic City this weekend just in case your winning streak follows you! Trevor of course wins the bottle of Ale Smith “Yule Smith” and a bottle of Bell’s Christmas Ale.
This week’s question is one for you BrewDog fans. Now I know that some of you have already sampled some of BrewDog’s Abstrakt series thanks largely to the “get up & go attitude” of local beer fan and awesome homebrewer Mr. Mooy (seriously that IPA you brewed, phenomenal!) Many of you however might not even know of the beers existence (check out http://www.abstrakt.com/). It’s a series of experimental brews, each one unique, limited in number (generally a little over 3000 bottles) and not available in the U.S. Also available only from BrewDog’s online shop were 2 Reserve bottlings of their collaboration with Stone, Bashah (read more here). I’m inviting the winner of this week’s question to join me for a tasting of these treats (pictured below) (and, if you’re so inclined, reviewing them for the blog)
Want to taste these treats from BrewDog?
The question is simple … my bottle of Abstrakt 01 is number …. ? (of 3200). Sound tempting? … well then, have at it and good luck! (As usual, please post your answer via the comment option below).
Damn The Torpedoes … tasting “Sink The Bismarck” … and other delights.
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Followers of our facebook page and blog already know that I’m a big fan of BrewDog, the Scottish craft brewers that have caused quite a furore as well as considerable amount of controversy in the UK and pretty much everywhere else they’ve planted their flag. I won’t dwell on the particulars of their seemingly meteoric growth in stature and infamy, instead, for that, I’ll direct you to the comprehensive writings of Sandy Mitchell in the Mid Atlantic Brewing News (“Profile Of A Punk Brewer” current issue, http://www.brewingnews.com/mid-atlantic/ ) , Tammy Tuck at the Washington City Paper (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2010/06/08/brewdog-part-2-a-couple-punks-clowns/) and Brad’s Beer In Baltimore blog site (http://beerinbaltimore.com/?p=3088). Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re hard to ignore. As I’ve said, I’ve planted my feet firmly on the “love ‘em” side of the fence. That’s not to say that I think that everything they touch is golden but I enjoy their irreverent approach to their craft but their seriousness with regards to the product and many of the beers that they produce are, in my opinion, outstanding! I, like many other fans, had the good fortune to meet James at a recent event at Max’s Taphouse and found him to be genial, good humored and passionate about his craft, much like Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione on meeting him some years ago.
James of BrewDog, myself and Mr. Sandy Mitchell
When I first heard that BrewDog had released a beer called “Tactical Nuclear Penguin”, a freeze distilled imperial stout weighing in at 32% abv my curiosity was piqued. When I saw the accompanying promo video on their website I simply HAD to try it, so, credit card in hand, I took the plunge and purchased 2 bottles of the very first batch via their website. Now obviously such a beer is one for sharing so I opened a bottle at the launch party for one of our own beers (when I knew that plenty of fellow beer lovers would be on hand, desperate to sample it) and I was not disappointed … it’s an incredible beer with layers of complexity that I have rarely appreciated in a beer before. In the spirit of sharing I decided to put the second bottle of Penguin up as a prize on my regular brewery blog’s Friday Question spot … needless to say it garnered much attention and Rob was the eventual winner. Before long BrewDog came out with a 41% abv beer, “Sink The Bismarck” as well as a beer on the opposite end of the spectrum, “Nanny State” at a staggering 0.5% abv ( an “insanely hopped imperial mild”). Again, I had to try them, although this time, short of funds, I resorted to begging and BrewDog kindly agreed to send me a bottle of each for the purposes of a review tasting. I decided to run a competition on the brewery facebook page so that one lucky follower could participate in the tasting and review it for the blog. It took several months to receive the samples but eventually they arrived. In the meantime I had decided to expand the concept somewhat and bought a few more bottles (Dogma, Tokio and 5am Saint) to add to the line-up. Rob, winner of the Tactical Nuclear Penguin graciously agreed to join the tasting panel and include his bottle of TNP. We already had quite a line up but it got better still as, after a few e-mails to the lovely Becky at BrewDog’s local distributor, we procurred several other bottles from their portfolio to sample.
the BrewDog tasting line-up
So, with much anticipation myself, Mitchell (winner of the Bismarck competition), Rob (winner of the TNP competition), Sandy (writer for Mid Atlantic Brewing News and www.Beerinbaltimore.blogpot.com blog), Justin (owner of the Pratt St. Ale House) and Nick (friend and local beer lover, standing in for Brad of the Ale St. News/ www.beerinbaltimore.com who was unable to attend) gathered for the tasting. I will let Mitchell take it from here … I will only say that, while the Bismarck is good, it fades compared to the likes of the Penguin and Tokio, which are incredible beers. As for “Nanny State”, worth it for the “been there, done that!” but I shall never return. Over to Mitchell….
Mitchell (left) and myself over a table laden with amazing beer!
Way back in February, Steve ran a Facebook contest to give one lucky Oliver Ales fan an incredible opportunity: the chance to taste a pair BrewDog beers, the (then) World’s Strongest Beer, the 41% ABV Sink the Bismarck, and its polar opposite, the 0.5% ABV Nanny State. Unfortunately, I was fundamentally opposed to Facebook. Fortunately, I’ll do most anything for great beer, and I quickly set aside my objections to set up an account and enter the contest. One lucky bottle cap out of a hat later (as well as a few months of patient waiting), and I came to the Pratt Street Ale House on Friday night all set to join Steve, Sandy from beerinbaltimore.blogspot.com, and a few other beer enthusiasts for my tasting, which had somehow grown all the more awesome in the months between. Not only did we sample the Sink the Bismarck and the Nanny State, BrewDog had generously provided virtually their entire line-up for us! Plus, a previous contest winner, Rob, donated his Tactical Nuclear Penguin prize for the cause.
While waiting for everyone to arrive, we started the night with the just released Strongman Pale Ale (version 2.0) from Oliver Ales. At 8.6% ABV, this well-hopped English-style pale ale is aptly named and an interesting contrast to the American style pale ales that frequently contain the citrusy nose of West Coast hops. Hopheads should hurry downtown to get a taste before the keg is kicked. Then it was on to the BrewDogs. To avoid pulling a hamstring or taste bud, we warmed up with the 5AM Saint, only half-jokingly because, with the lineup in front of us, we were likely to still be tasting new beers at 5 AM. This “iconoclastic amber ale” was a great way to start; aggressively hopped and 5% ABV, if you see this pink-labeled bottle at the local liquor store, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Sufficiently warmed up, it was on to the big dogs: Sink the Bismarck, Tactical Nuclear Penguin, and Nanny State.
Sink the Bismarck, an “IPA for the dedicated,” is a monster of a beer. It’s 41% ABV, and it’s not afraid to let you know it. This is a quadruple IPA—four times the hops, four times the bitterness, and frozen four times—but it tastes almost of a whiskey. There was a hint of both the sweetness and bitterness to distinguish it, though, and this would be an excellent night cap after dinner at a steakhouse.
Tactical Nuclear Penguin just might be the world’s most dangerous beer. Pouring a deep black, this stout measures 32% ABV, but it sure doesn’t taste that way. Instead, the rich, caramel malt character shines through, making this a truly outstanding beer. As BrewDog recommends, we drank it with an aristocratic nonchalance. Similarly, the Tokyo stout, which measures “only” 18.2% ABV, was easily drinkable despite its high alcohol content and subtle enough to allow the cranberry and jasmine flavorings to shine through. BrewDog’s success with these extreme stouts is impressive, and they’ve earned their distinction as one of the world’s most innovative brewers.
Nanny State, a response to attempts by the Scottish government’s attempts to ban the Tokyo, was the polar opposite of the beers above. As Rob put it, “It tastes like dry hopped club soda.” It lacks the malt base necessary to create a finely balanced beer (otherwise it wouldn’t be 0.5% ABV), but it is still aggressively hopped. If you’re stuck as the designated driver, order one of these and just smell it all night.
Another highlight of the night was the Paradox series. These stouts are brewed with the same base beer, but then aged in different Scottish Malt Whisky casks; we tried the Isle of Arran and Smokehead. If you didn’t know it, you’d be hard-pressed to guess that these were the same beer aged differently. Each was delicious in its own right, but the Smokehead and its peaty, smoky nose but mild flavors stole the show.
In conclusion, this was one of the best beer experiences I’ve ever had. Thanks again to Steve for organizing our tasting, and to BrewDog for providing us with some outstanding beers. These guys really know what they’re doing, especially when it comes to imperial stouts. Don’t hesitate to pick these up if you see them at your favorite beer retailer.
Rob admiring the Penguin
Sink The Bismarck!