1001 Beer: Smoked Porter

Beer Number 21: Stone Smoked Porter.

This is a beer I have fell in love with the very first time I had it. Being that Stone brewed it, that should be no surprise. I'm not saying it is my favorite porter, but it is damn good and damn solid. One of my first times I had this beer, I had the other two variations; Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans, and not too long after that, Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle. Both of these beers I had at a few festivals I attended since they were one-offs and not bottled... until recently. Looking through 1001 Beers, I discovered some interesting facts.

Stone Smoked Porter was released not long after Stone Brewing opened, and it was meant to be a one-off; it was also meant to be sold solely on draft and only in the San Diego area.

There was quite a bit more information in there but then it goes and rambles off about the Vertical Epic series. I have had 09-09-09 through 11-11-11 and wish I could get the earlier ones, but that is for another time.



The smokiness on the nose is fairly light but very distinct... You know what I mean. You can definitely taste it on the finish. Chocolaty and coffee notes are running all through this beer and it has a great maltyness about it. A great beer from one of the great breweries. What can be said? But that brings us to the other creations that they released upon the world.



Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla. The nose does not have that smokiness as the original but it is still there in the taste. Very smokey all around and a bit sweet. You get a hint of the vanilla on both ends. I cannot figure out which one came out first. This version or the next one. Quick searches on the web are proving noneffective. Though, reading the back of each bottle I have a feeling it was the Chipotle.



The nose on this beer is kind of on fire. I like it though. It is not overly hot, just kind of smokey hot... Again sticking with the theme. On first sip, the heat overcomes your mouth and you get a hot prickly sensation all over. You can still get a hint of the coffee but the chocolate seems to disappear.

I would have to say on a 6oz pour, or so, that Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle is my favorite. But having to get my way through these bottles, the original is the best. The vanilla stirkes as too sweet, the chipotle, too hot. The original is just right.

980 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

New Belgium: Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout

Again, another Lips of Faith beer. You know how much I love these and the brewery but this time I thought I would try something new. This is a beer I have been looking for since I knew it was going to be released and I decided, you know what? Why don't I do a little research on the New Belgium Site about the Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout. You know what I found?!?!? A DINNER IDEA!!! Was it a good call to pair a beer with the sites suggested pairing? Hey, it couldn't be a bad idea.

So I don't really know who Joey McCarthy is but he is proclaimed as the New Belgium Steak Saint. I love steak. I want steak. I need steak. He suggest I eat an Espresso Crusted Filet Mignon. Honestly the recipe is very simple and I had just about everything I needed already. The only things I needed to pick up happened to be the meat, the arugula, and the salad dressing. What could be better than that!



The first thing that needed to be done was to candy the pecans. SWMBO actually took the steps in doing this for me. She made me some of these for Thanksgiving. I guess it was practice for something she knew would come. After that I made the Dry Rub and coated the steaks. I was excited to use the Verona Blend from Starbucks. It is pretty much the only roast of coffee I love and I actually plan to make a homebrew with it. That is exactly why it is around. I mean, I prefer my coffee in my beer.



I was not sure if this is what they meant by coat and make a crust but it was the best I had to go on. There was no picture of the recipe. After the saute I threw them in the pan like it was meant to be done and baked them out. SWMBO finished the salad and then we go to dinner.

About the recipe... Well, honestly I love spicy and peppery things, but I think this was far too much. SWMBO hates spicy things but she found this good smothered in ketchup. I sucked it up and took it bite for bite but the Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout took a lot of the edge off... and the steak took a lot of the edge off of the beer as well. Weird how that whole pairing thing works. I kind of wish this beer had a name, but oh well I guess...



I mean, it was not bad but just way too hot. The salad was good but the dressing mixing with the strawberries was kind of intense too... It was fine with the pecans. Maybe I should get to the beer though... You can really pick out the dark roast of the coffee and it is a little bit spicy. It really works for this beer. The thick, rich, malty body and the dark malt bitterness bring this beer across different flavor realms and kills the sweetness up from. The 9% alcohol in this beer is very much noticeable and it is a little slick in the mouth.

Overall, I'd say give the recipe a try. No beer is harmed in the making of it, but if I were to only pick one, it would be to just drink the beer. Unless you like very peppery things. I will pass again though. The beer is calling me.

Cheers!

New Belgium: Biere De Garde

There has been so much going on recently that I have not been on here much at all. That doesn't mean I don't have any beer stories to tell though! Some of the major events I went to that I meant to talk about but just couldn't find the time were; Bottle Revolutions 1 Year Anniversary, My Hunt Through Denver to Find Abbey during The Great American Beer Fest, a new brewery I visited or two, and a whole slew of beers that need to be added to my 1001 Beers To Try Before You Die section. I will get to all of those in due time. Right now I just thought I was take the time to talk about a beer that I actually just had, just so this one doesn't get lost in the suds of time as well.



Every quarter, as you probably already know, New Belgium releases 2 beers for their Lips of Faith program. I actually emailed the brewery a year and a half ago to get more infomation about the series as a whole. This is what they had to say.

The Lips of Faith Program can be a hard one for consumers to fully understand, hell – it’s hard for me to recall exactly what’s happened over the years, because it’s morphed so many times. With this said, here’s an overview:

It used to just be an internal offering (what’s now called our Loose Lips Program). But people loved the variety and esoteric nature of a lot of the Lips of Faith offerings, so …

We started bottling some of these quirkier, acquired taste beers and selling them in limited accounts across our territories. This was done on a none scheduled basis. We’d wait until the beer ran out, before brewing another Lips of Faith beer. But, waiting until we ran out complicated things, so …

2 years ago or so, we decided to start brewing 2 new Lips of Faith beers every quarter, which is where we are now.

They went on in the email to tell me which ones were released in the past and which ones were currently out at the time. I was trying to track down the ones I have had and the ones I did not. Since then, I have never missed a release. I was getting kind of worried about the current release right now but then good ol Ted, of Bottle Revolution, stepped up and let me know that both this one, (Biere De Garde), and the Imperial Chocolate Coffee Stout were available and he set them aside for me.

I don't have much experience with Biere De Gardes to begin with so going into this was pretty much a blind leap. I am a New Belgium Fanboy so I saw nothing that could be bad about it going into my first sip. The only information I knew about it was what was printed on the Chicken Painted Bottle.

Famous in Michigan for farmhouse ales, our friends at Brewery Viviant introduced us to their biere de garde ale yeast strain. From there, we imagined a slightly tart, intentionally dry beer with hints of bergamot citrus that pairs perfectly with French cheeses.

I wish I had some French cheeses lying around, but oh well... Just like the description pointed out, this beer was pretty dry and had a bit of a grainy texture. The orange flavors meld well and seem a little lemony in the finish. The nose was floral, a tad earthy with a little spice and you could really smell/feel the 9% abv in your nose. Though, it was not in the taste at all. A medium bodied beer that overall was really enjoyable and easy to drink. Another fantastic beer, I'd say. You know I gave it a 5 out of 5 rating. And this isn't just a I'm really bias toward the company. I actually really enjoyed it. I plan to seek out other Biere De Gardes now and I am always looking for suggestions. I know they can be hard to find around these parts though...

Now I don't know much about Brewery Vivant but looking over their site and having this beer, I may have to make a trip to The Brewery just to check it out. Maybe there actually is something good in Michigan???

Cheers!