New Belgium: Fresh Hop & Yuzu

With the changing season comes changing beer... but this has nothing to do with that. Not really anyway. This is about two beers that have crossed my eyes and my lusting soul recently. I am sure you have heard me talking about them on Twitter or maybe Google+ but now that I finally tracked them down, it is time to drink them.

New Belgium Fresh Hop! Another Release from the Hop Kitchen Series. The second being French Aramis, and the first of the 4 for the year was Hoppy Bock. I already see people (10) drinking Rewind on Untappd but I have not found it yet. Soon... along with my Q4 Folly Pack!



I totally would have grabbed a bottle of this but it was hard to come by in my area... ok, it is not in my area. I had to travel north again. But oh well, in the name of beer!

I guess I kind of hid it in the photo but you can still see it is a very clean, golden ale with a billowy light, white head. The aroma smells of Salmon Safe Hops... wait... what?

Salmon Safe Oregon Hops: In a nutshell, it’s all about keeping the water clean at and downstream of agricultural areas. To get the certification, the farmer has to do a number of things, including: only use approved pesticides; only have pesticides applied by trained individuals; plant more than 100 feet from any waterway, have stormwater mitigation so that runoff from the fields goes into the ground and not a waterway. Visit salmonsafe.org for detailed information.

There goes New Belgium and their Sustainability again. But anyway, out of a pint glass I got a lovely floral aroma that was nice and smooth. A light touch of pine, but I got some really juicy flavors as I moved into this one. A touch of lemon, but mostly bright citrus with a mellow bitterness in the finish. A touch grassy and woody as well. The lacing this beer left behind was very beautiful. Fresh Hop had a nice full body and a great carbonation level. I wonder what this would have been like out of the bottle but I am glad to have had it from a keg.

This next beer has caused some stir, an Imperial Berliner Weisse? NO WAY!!! But, I had to try it, even if it is out of its normal realm. Lips Of Faith Yuzu.



I kind of think I should have put my glass up front... but I guess that is for next time. Another very cleanly presented beer from New Belgium. No doubts about that but how would it live it to the style? Or would it taste well out of style?

I found the flavors came across quite light, juicy, and sweet. Now I have never had a Yuzu but apparently they are becoming all the rage. Several breweries have used them now, or at least I noticed it after having this beer. Maybe it was the high gravity of this one but it came across as a bit malty with a medium body. A nice touch of sour throughout that was pronounced in the finish and I am pretty sure in the nose, Yuzu is what I was picking up. A very tasty, tasty brew. Any doubts I had going in were no longer there.

Cheers!

Beers I have Been Having Recently

Just catching up but not taking the time to write out post on this stuff. Just know, I enjoyed this. Plus another 1001 or two. I will fix this at some point.



There goes one 1001, the 90 minute. Not my favorite of the group, but good. You know. I will further fill this one in when I get the the brewery... or if I come upon another bottle soon...

889 Bottle Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

Lips Of Faith: Paardebloem, Pluot, & Hop Kitchen: Hoppy Bock

This has to be a first for me. Two brand new Lips Of Faith Beers, and two that I was not all to crazy about. These two beers had some very promising factors about them, too. The first one I opened up was Paardebloem, an ale brewed...

Using dandelion greens to bitter a Belgian-style ale blossomed from our brewers collaborating with Red Rock Brewing. These being our sixth interpretation together since 2008, expect a wonderfully complex ale fermented with wild Belgian yeast and blended with just a touch of wood-aged beer. Bitterness imparted from dandelion greens and grains of paradise will have you blowing wishes for sips.

This was a hazy beer and rather orange. Big white fluffy head that was short lived. Earthy and floral notes on the nose with a little bit of funk. A touch sour on the opening, grassy, and that little Belgian twang you tend to get in some Belgian beers that pokes its head out as you head into the finish. This one just did not work for me.

The other, Pluot. I had my first Pluot while working at Fred Meyer in college. The produce section there is pretty amazing. It is so weird seeing the setups that are on the East Coast. Maybe I better setup for a move back. I think it is very interesting that someone thought to put it into a beer. Hell, I thought up some crazy things, (not many actually make it into the kettle), but never using hybrid fruit.

Hook up a plum with an apricot and they’ll make you a pluot. This sweet hybrid fruit is as refreshing as it is strange, and it’s the perfect starting point for our new Lips of Faith beer. Pluot Ale pours a bright, light golden. The aroma is full of fruit tones and distinct esters from blending the funky brettanomyces and our house Belgian ale yeast. The flavor carries the same weight, adding a spicy, vinous subtlety to stand up against the malt backbone. To build a beer around this worldly fruit is purely Belgian in imagination. Pour some Pluot and enjoy!

I found this one a bit better but I just don't know where it was going. A crystal clear beer with an off white head, funky, fruity, and musty on the nose. Sweet juices up front and a big malt presence. Very full bodied and dry in the finish. You get a bit of a twang in this one as well but I cannot see myself drinking more than just this bottle of it. The last time I felt this way about a Lips Of Faith beer was, Cocoa Mole. I had it a few times after my first time but I was still unsure as to what to think. Maybe I will come across this again... maybe not?

While I am at it, why not throw the first beer in the Hop Kitchen into here as well, Hoppy Bock. The next one should be out in about a week, though I guess it depends on your retailer. I am hoping to get it before long but I am also traveling... that may have an impact. Positive or Negative?

I am very jealous that Beer Drinker Rob over at Daily Beer Review got to taste French Aramis before me... What seems odd about that? The fact that New Belgium is not officially released in Florida yet and that this beer was not released. It was even delivered by Bike Courier. Oh, well. I will get my hands on it at some point.

A German-style springtime lager brewed with rye then loaded with Hallertauer, Perle and Fuggle hops for a spicy, earthy aroma. This Hoppy Bock Lager offers a medium body and slightly sweet malt character perfect for your spring hop-fling.

This one I did enjoy. It was awesome how the hops just jumped out of the bottle of this beer and into the air around you. It was almost like bliss... but that is reserved for La Folie or 1554... This was overall just a nice beer in my eyes. A bit earthy, spicy, clean, crisp, but the hops that you smelled did not get in the way of the flavor of this beer. It was not highly bittered, it was just right I feel... Though, after looking over the fact that it is 70IBU's thick, I take it the brewers spent a good amount of time making sure it was balanced.

So, until the next Lips Of Faith beers are released, This quarters beers are brought to you by the letter P!

Cheers!

New Belgium: Heavenly Feijoa

It has been a while since I opened up this beer, April 7th to be exact, but I wanted to get my notes out there especially since I am about to open up the two new offerings; Pluot and Paardebloem. I drank this one not too long after Cascara Quad and now I see a bunch of people digging in for the first time.

One thing I realized about my New Belgium Love, is the fact that on their website they have a Beer Masher. While it is not a complete list of all of their products, it is quite close. I have had all but 7 of the beers listed on there. If you would like a shot at guessing which 7, go ahead. For now I will continue to track down each and every beer of theirs I can and hopefully make another brewery trip.



This beer I really enjoyed, but it was not like any other that I have had... though, almost every trippel, tripel, triple, however you want to spell it, they were all pretty different. I guess it is the selection of the ones I chose.

Copper beer below a white, fluffy head. Fruity on the nose. Pineapple and a bit sour. Some odd but good, juicy flavors. Mango and pretty full bodied. Not as good as a few others I had, but I still enjoyed this as a Faith beer. Cannot wait to crack the others open and see how this quarters beers are.

Cheers!

New Belgium: Cascara Quad

Not too long ago, I picked up a slew of New Belgium Beers and, as you probably assumed, I was really excited to try the new Lips Of Faith offerings. Between the two new offerings, I decided to open the Cascara Quad first based on a recommendation. I really had nothing to go off of besides the descriptions. Though, The Heavenly Feijoa sounds like one I would really enjoy.

Local roasters Novo Coffee turned us onto Central America's Cascara, the fruit or husk that surrounds coffee beans. When dried, it can be made into a tea with hints of cherry and tobacco. Blend that into a Quad fermented with gorgeous malts and date sugar for a crazy complex beer to warm your winter nights.

It's been nothing but cold around here recently, so that is exactly what I was trying to do. Though, I'm open to the idea, the Date Sugar really turned me off from the get-go. I had another beer recently that used Dates as a major part of the beer and, while I thought it was good, it was just not a flavor profile I was looking for. Then, I was not 100% positive that it was Dates that contributed the flavor, but now having a second beer, I know for sure.



Cascara Quad poured a magnificent, deep reddish hue with a big off white head that recedes rather quickly. The nose is a touch sour, a bit of cherry, and some very nice deep coffee and date tones over top. The nose of this beer was really complex and I think it has gone to levels never before seen by New Belgium.

There were instant hints of spice, a twang that was a bit tart and a nice full body. Those dates I was referring to, really take off and cover the greater amount of flavors in this one. Roasty in the back end and it really sticks to your throat. Coats the whole mouth. All of the flavors are pretty sharp. Even hints of clove and banana appear before the beer dries out. As complex as I thought the nose was, it has nothing on the flavors that come through.

Overall, I was not too big of a fan on this one. While it is well made and there is a lot going on, just trying to get passed the Date flavor was the hardest part. I did, however, hoard the whole bottle to myself! There was a lot of good, but it saddens me to say, in this case, Baby Trish Was Not Impressed.



Cheers!

New Belgium: Transatlantique Kriek

Transatlantique Kriek is a beer that is very special to me. Not just because of my secret New Belgium crush that no one knows about, but the fact that this is the first of three beers that SWMBO actually likes! I picked up a bottle of it in 2010, or 2011, just because it was a Lips Of Faith beer and I had to collect them all.

Back then I tried to make her taste everything I bought just because I was hoping to share my obsession with her. I was certain she would hate it but after one sip, she was like "Pour me a glass of this one." Woot!!! Win!!! We went back to the bottle shop the next day and bought all the remaining bottles off the shelf. I refrained from drinking much just so she could enjoy it. Fast Forward to February 1st, 2013.



Ok, so we can actually go a little past that. I was not in Colorado, so I was not able to go to the launch event. Though, you know I so would have been there if possible. But once this beer got to North Carolina, February 18th, I made a mighty big beer run to get some of the good stuff. Yes, the day it was released! I did not want to risk any of it selling out! I even picked up that Folly Pack that I searched for at every store within a 20 mile radius. It sucked I had to travel so far to find that simple little pack but now I have it... Until the other ones are released later this year...



Of course when I opened up this bottle, SWMBO got the first pour and most of the bottle. I even let her have the first taste... mainly because I was jotting down my appearance notes, but that is besides the point. After reading the side of the bottle, she was actually worried about drinking this beer. She asked me, "What if I only liked this one when it is aged?"

Two Continents, One Beer. We partnered up with Frank Boon's Brewery in Belgium back in 2003 to create a unique Kriek with A Tart Cherry Nose and A Pleasingly Sour Finish. Lucky for all, We Did It Again! Travel to NewBelgium.com

Fair question based on this short description. I told her it was fine and we bought enough bottles to age for quite some time. The Verdict: It was not the same beer she fell in love with. She was able to continue drinking it but does not want to open another bottle for at least one year. My thoughts: A different beer, for sure. Though, that should not discourage anybody.

Transatlatique Kriek looks like a fine wine. A beautiful Blood Red color or even reminiscent of Cranberry Juice. Pours a big pink head that is just amazing to look at. Sour cherries and some funk on the nose. It does smell pretty fresh and young right now. The scents are so vibrant and not subdued at all.

First sips of this one are tangy, musty, a little tart in the finish and you pick up a dryness you would expect if you were eating nothing but cherry skins. Of course the cherry flavor comes along with that. The carbonation dances all over your tongue but it seems to have a low carb level. Figure that one out.

I honestly did prefer the batch that we got from 2010 as well. I mean, I really enjoyed this one and I wonder what or if anything will happen to this beer over time, but it is different than before. I asked them about it on twitter and got a response that makes perfect sense.

@l_allenh No recipe changes. The blending beer from Boon is a Kriek, differences in the cherries? And the aging never goes the same twice.

— New Belgium Brewing (@newbelgium) March 5, 2013

There you have it. I did not think of that at all but hey, that is part of what beer is about. I will still keep note of what happens over the life of these beers.

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!

Vrienden

This is one of the beers that I loved and I was happy when I was able to find it again after having to get rid of my whole bottle collection :'(. I guess at the time I never had a use for the bottles. Kind of keeping them for nostalgia purposes. I am sure the men and women of New Belgium would be proud but many others just see it as clutter. I hate those people. HAHA! JK! I still wish I had my bottles though.

To this day, I have still never had the Allagash Version of it, but now that I live considerably closer to their brewery... though, I am not counting on finding this "Colabeeration".

Get a Belgian Brewmaster and a Master of Belgian Brewing together and there's sure to be spontaneous imagination that leads to micro-organisms mingling in fermentation bliss! Bliss! BLISS! Allagash and New Belgium are pleased to offer you our CollaBeerAtion Vrienden.

This beer is an ale brewed with Hibiscus and Endive. Very amazing on my first go around so I am hoping it is just as great this time. Though, I know nothing about how it was stored before it came into my hands or how long this beer was even built to last. I guess we will see... right?

Brewed with the slightly fruity hibiscus flower, the aromatic Brettanomyces, and the flavor-boosting Lactobacillus. We recommend pairing it with creamy, soft cheeses and charming Vrienden-That's "Friends" in Flemish. Enjoy.

I did not pair this beer, and I was fairly selfish :p I guess maybe that is a bad thing but only few I know could appreciate something this amazing.

Though, I guess I got to it too late :'(. It still had that sour nose with hints of fruity, lemony, orange peel? Somebody tell me what hibiscus is supposed to be like. Lame, I know. I am missing one of the major aspects of this beer due to inexperience. The sourness is now very mellow. It was never too big before but it kind of dampened off. Not like I remember it. A bit of kick in the back, but nothing overwhelming. It doesn't even really have that funkiness I loved before. It is more dry and spicy now. I guess it is not a full loss, but still. A beer I loved lost to the hands of time. Maybe a rerelease? That would be awesome. Or am I just living unreal New Belgium Fan Boy Dreams?

Cheers!

New Belgium Brewing Company

Has there ever been a time in your life where you did the one thing that you thought you would never do? No matter how small or trivial that thing was. It did not require a lot of extra effort, just being in said place at said time... Well, I personally never thought I would get to New Belgium. The brewery of my dreams was just that. Nothing but a dream. I guess I could have had more romantic or say, exotic dreams. Like actually going out to Belgium, but that is just a bit different. New Belgium has been my Beer Love since the dawn of my Craft Beer life. 1554 quickly became my favorite beer and from then on I made it my mission to taste everything they released. From the Lips of Faith series, to their year round releases. So you know how I felt when I actually got the email...

It is destined: Touring New Belgium is in your near future. On Wednesday, June 06, 2012 at 3:30 PM, we’ve reserved 2 tour tickets under the name Allen.

I could have cried at this moment... Though, I guess I needed to start planning the road trip. I know that this was quite a while back, but it took some time for me to get settled into my new place, so blah! Trying not to be biased, I would have to say this was the best tour that I have been on. Truth!

I mean, what other tour let me pour my own beer? And that was not ever the start of it...



In order to make it to Fort Collins on time I left Seattle at about 9am the previous morning and had one hell of a drive for almost 24 hours stopping only to sleep at rest stops for a few hours at a time. Nothing was going to make me late to this day. When we finally arrived there it was about 10am and we found a motel just a few blocks away and crashed until about an hour before our tour. We got up, got ready, and left because I wanted to have a few beers before it got started. Right as we are getting near the brewery we are held up by a train! Who does that? Runs a train right through the middle of the city? It didn't really affect anything other than my drinking time but I had no idea how long this thing was.



Luckily, my first flight was everything I hoped for and more. Finally I fell into the world of my favorite brewery. I had Ken's Hefe, Valentine's Day Ale, Lost Abbey Brett Beer Collab, and La Folie 2012! La Folie is actually a beer in my 1001 Beers series, but since I have a bottle of 2011, and 2012 in the cellar, I will hold on for that for later. La Folie is actually a beer that inspired me to brew a Flanders Red. But more on that later. All of these beers were amazing. I took crappy notes on them but I was more just into enjoying myself at the brewery than anything else. The lady liked Valentine's Day Ale, so that is a plus and I got a bottle of Brett Beer for home too!

The coolest thing I thought before the tour is that the ticket was a 1554 Label... I should have kept it but they collected it pretty much at the start. 1554 is one of my favorite beers of all time. Everything about it is just amazing. I am really surprised I did not have one before we got going. The first beer of the tour was Abbey. I had seriously forgot how good this beer is. It was always one of my favorites but I only picked it up in a Folly Pack. During the first section of this tour they did the usual. Told us about the company and brewing and yada yada yada. You know, the stuff that every beer geek already knows, and those who make beer know even more about. But it was still a good time. They even gave out prizes for answering trivia questions.

The next part of the tour was extremely awesome. This is where we got more in depth information about all of the beers that the company releases. Some were held back for other parts of the tour but we also got to pour our own beer. Fan-Fricken-Tastic. That is where the video from above is. I decided to get myself a Cocoa Mole. I had this beer once and was not really sure what to think. On my second go around... I am kind of stuff in the same boat. It was not bad but it was just so different. I also got a pour of Sunshine Wheat. Another really good beer from this company. I believe they said they brewed this one originally under the name of Wedding Wheat... or something like that but changed the name because only females were drinking it.



Our next stop was the Barrel Room. Again, we got to pour our own beer here, and the beer on tap? Tart Lychee. I had just had this not too long ago and instantly fell in love. This is yet another bottle I have home with me as well. I guess I should show them all off at some point being I keep bringing this up... I really wanted to run around and try to find stuff in here but I am pretty sure that was not allowed. I am really hoping for a rerelease of Le Terrior. Now that would be great.

The next part of the tour brought us to Fat Tire, and 1001 Beers Number 18. This was seriously the best Fat Tire I have ever had. I am usually not a fan of this beer, and maybe being at the source had some magical voodoo over me but just every layer of this beer came through and made me remember why I first started drinking the beer from this company. The biscuit, the crystal, just everything that makes this beer what it is was very well showcased here. I should have taken some of this home with me too. I guess I can easily find it at the store though. Not sure if it can ever taste this amazing again.

The last stop of this tour was around their bottling line area and the last beer of the tour was Somersault. This was my most drank beer last summer. It is great for a nice warm day... or hot because that is pretty much how it always was in the San Fernando Valley. The citrus flavors plays really well on the light body that this beer presents. They gave out a couple of cans of Shift. There was a lot of cool things we saw on the way, the windmills were not one of them :( I guess we were too far away to actually see them but it is alright. They sustain themselves pretty well. Before we finished the tour, we had one last piece of fun... I will never forget this moment.



After the tour I picked up a few more beers. I mean, how could I not? We still had some time before the Liquid Center closed and I wanted to spend every minute possible there. This time around I got a big Valentine's Day Ale for the Lady and a Bier De Mars, Prickly Passion Saison, and 1554 for myself. I also had to get a Cascadian Dubbel and Billy's Beer just to say that I have had every Lips of Faith released and that was possible to get in my area since I got into beer. I love the series and I wish it was easier to get my hands on, but maybe that is part of the allure.



Once I got outside I noticed this cool trailer that was numbered after my favorite beer and pretty much told the whole story of New Belgium from the beginning. It even included a miniature scale of the facility. I wonder what the new one in Asheville will be looking like. We have had some announcements but nothing too big at the moment. I just hope that I can be there opening day. I think the whole moving to North Carolina thing was not such a bad idea in this respect but we will see how the road goes in general.







Here are a few of the bottles I kept talking about and I still have from some time. I hope a few are not past their prime and I wish I could have found others. Like another bottle of Fresh Hop Ale. I plan on turning them all into cups because that seems to be a fad now. If only I did not get rid of my old collection of bottles...

The New


The Old

I wish they would rerelease Sahti, and let Belgo out in that bottle once more instead of the year round one they have now. But anyway, no trip to a brewery, especially my favorite brewery, would be complete without me grabbing some glassware. I was kind of disappointed with the style they had but I guess it works. Each of my favorite breweries had a different style. Deschutes the Euro top, Sierra Nevada the Bulb. I filled this one with Trippel. Another great beer. Again, one I usually only get around the holidays but I did not have it while at the brewery so I had to make sure I got it. I was kind of disappointed that I did not taste Ranger while I was there or Blue Paddle but I guess I just have to make the trip back :D.



983 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

The Trip XI, XII, and Tart Lychee

New Belgium and Elysian Brewery. Ever since I first got into beer, and craft beer, I have loved New Belgium. As you probably already know, I am one of their biggest fanboys... and I love it! I am visiting their brewery in the next few days and it would take death to keep me from getting there and I cannot think of one thing that I would dislike about my visit. I hope they are as super awesome as I expect... though, I am sure I would do something to anybody that helped me out in order to keep my high expectations of New Belgium where I feel they should be. I know I should not love a company this much, but really, they have been nothing but good to me. From my first taste of Fat Tire to my latest taste of Tart Lychee, I cannot think of anything I hate about them. This trip will be heaven for me. If I don't make it... I really don't know what to say... I will probably post me crying for hours and hours. Just saying.

So when it comes to the Collaboration between the two breweries, I wish I got into beer sooner. I was really hopeful when I heard about the Trip Series but I shortly found out they are brewed once and then forgot about for life... How does this make me feel being I heard about it from about the time The Trip V was out but I was not able to make it to the brewery until The Trip IX. Yeah, think about it... but it's alright. I mean, there is a lot of beer that I missed out on but there is so much that I am in love with at this point in time. So here we go. Maybe I just got the best of the world and I will continue to see it as it develops, evolves, and makes the world a better place.




This brings us to The Trip XI. I loved pretty much everything about this beer. It was a great Farmhouse Ale. I look for these things all the time when I am out and about in the beer world but they are still hard to find. So my thoughts? Great earthy nose, farmhouse yeast and sage up front. Sweet, spicy, medium mouthfeel, grassy finish. Getting toward the end of the bottle the flavor was all that much more better. In the beginning I guess I was missing the dregs from the bottom of the bottle but they brought a whole new layer of complexity to the beer. It mellowed out a lot, not that the beer was on edge in any way but I think the Saison feel I was looking for was lost at the bottom. I wish I would have shaken it up a little bit or they sold this in 12oz bottles rather than the 22oz bomber.




The Trip XII I thought was very mellow for todays IPAs. I love it. It's more about the hop balance and the flavors of the adjuncts, i.e. the Pink Peppercorn. I think that the peppercorns are really mellow... not that I really know what a Pink Peppercorn is but it isn't hot like I expected. Very nice. A tad sweet initially but quickly chopped down by hops and a bit of spice. Full bodied for sure. They did not want to skimp on any layer of this beer. I love the low carbonation. Truly excellent in every way.

The next beer here... Yeah, Tart Lychee... I have only heard GREAT things about. I cannot believe that I have kept the bottle this long and have not ran out and bought every bottle in every shop that I have seen. I was really hoping it lived up to my expectations. I hate how everyone around me has been enjoying the shit out of this beer and I have been living in the darkness, so here we go...




This beer is one of those that I see myself, (and others), falling in love with more and more each time they have it. It was a damn good, slightly, sour. The twang it had gave it a character that I have never noticed in a beer before and then the sweetness was very nice and the thing you will remember about this beer. It was a bit juicy, like the fruits you would expect to have on an island. I have no idea what a lychee is or what it taste like but if it is anything like the flavor of this beer, they are a new favorite. Right up there with Kiwi's and Pineapples. The beer had a dry finish but it made me come back for more. Incredible. Everyone is buying these bottles out so I must find some more before it is gone. I love the Lips of Faith series so much so this isn't a surprise but hey. I hope this is on tap when I get to the brewery. Also, La Folie and maybe some other creations that I have yet to have or ones that I missed, though, those are from long years past and I am unsure if they are still brewed.

Cheers!

Cocoa Mole

Lips of Faith, Lips of Faith. Aww, how I do love thee. New Belgium, you already became my favorite brewery doing nothing but releasing 1554, Triple, Abbey, Ranger, Mighty Arrow, 2 Below, Somersault… well the list goes on and on. With your year round releases you already stole my heart. I even remember my first Lips of Faith brew, La Folie 2010, which also was my first sour. You just do everything that makes me love thee and enlighten me into new styles of beer.

Ok, now that I kind of got that fan boy stuff out of my system, let’s talk about a Lips of Faith beer I thought that I was going to miss, Cocoa Mole. This beer was a new release along with an older beer, Biere de Mars… unless another came out that I do not know about. I’ve had that one several times and I believe SWMBO picked me up a bottle for when I return. I’m really looking forward to finding out what the beers are for the next quarter. Always a must find.



Cocoa Mole: An Ale with Cocoa and Spices. This beer poured with a very small head and it dissipated fairly quickly. It was a nice tan/reddish color that looked great on floating on top of the beer. The nose was very spicy. Cinnamon and Nutmeg come to mind but kind of hot. It almost reminded me of the eggnog that we make every year but then the chocolate from the cocoa came through. There was so much going on that I just had to sit there and sniff it for literally 5 minutes. I made the bartender sniff it and a few other people that were with me and at the bar.

On the first sip, I was kind of torn. I didn’t really know what to expect being I only had 3 different chili beers from 3 different breweries. But the chili pepper really stood out. The blend of spices were pretty crazy as well. It all melded together by the way of cinnamon if that makes any sense and then rounded out by the cocoa… Again, I really did not know what to think of this. I was sipping on this one for a while trying to see how the flavor would evolve throughout the bottle. It was very warming and went down quite easily. I thought the medium body and fairly low carbonation helped with that as well.

There was probably a lot more to this beer within the actual malt background of it, but that is what stood out to me the most. It was really complex coming together but melded. I am still torn on this one and I would love to give it another go sometime if I can still find it. Maybe I will be able to hone in on the subtleties a bit more on and see if my New Belgium fan boyism was just not letting me not like it. I did enjoy it quite a bit but just trying to wrap my head around everything that was going on took me a minute.

New Belgium, I will forever love you… especially with you upcoming move to Ashland… I plan to be there opening day. I will be out in NC for the next several years so the odds are kind of in my favor. HAH!

I still have to make it to the original brewery though.

Cheers To You!

Gravity Beer Market

Moving is a hard adjustment for everybody but I think the thing that makes it harder is not staying in one place for too long. I only have a few days left but I was on a mission to find Kick and Clutch. You have to remember what is important, right? Thanks to some fancy searching from Nikkee, Yelp, and King 5 I ran into Gravity Beer Market. I basically struck gold finding this place.



I called this store and a few others. Not a single person at the other locations knew what these beers or even the Lips of Faith series was. I had someone tell me that they had The Grand Cru and the purple one. I, being the Self Proclaimed New Belgium Fan Boy of the World, knew that he meant the Dunkelweiss but I was like, ugh. When I called Gravity, The guy who answered the phone sounded really excited when I asked about it and said that they should be getting it in sometime next week. I pretty much had a beergasm at this point.

A week later, I called back and the woman who answered the phone told me exactly what I wanted to hear. KICK AND CLUTCH WERE IN!!!!! She told me that she literally just opened the case and that they were not even in the system yet but to give her 15 minutes to take care of it all. ZOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!! SCORE YEAH!

Gravity Beer Market

First and foremost, we are beer lovers. We are a wife and husband team that has spent 25 years collectively working in the beer industry. Our path has been filled with many pints of wonderful beers and now we have come home to open Olympia’s only bottle shop which officially opened in June of 2007.

This shop pretty much seemed to have everything. Their bottles were set up all along the walls around the shop and had an island with four and six packs for the shoppers who only want one thing. Behind the counter they had vintage bottles of beer, (most of them empty), but it made me smile. There was a bottle of the original Life And Limb up there as well as many others. The thing that caught my eye the most though was this.



Sadly, it was not for sale. I really want a bike once I get situated and this would be the most amazing bike ever. If I didn't need my car to get around I would totally put my name in for the Tour De Fat.

I found several other bottles that I was looking for and wanted while on this trip. I found a bottle of Ninkasi's Summer IPA, Maiden The Shade, Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu as well as a few other DFH brews I was looking for, and probably the very last bottle of Allagash White in Washington State.



Later on I will be doing a side by side review of Allagash White and Blue Moon. I am trying to show my Sister that Blue Moon is crap and to quit buying it. I know she will never be a craft beer person, but she should make better decisions in her life. It is unfortunate that Allagash no longer distributes to Washington but each company has to take care of themselves.

Just a few more days left. Hooah!