Replete with tangents about bottle dates and general beer geekery, we present another episode of our Happy Hour series with Mike, Jason, and special guest Brandon. Clocking in at just under one hour, this week’s Happy Hour circles around the reviews of two beers: Schlafly’s (St. Louis Brewery) Bière de Garde, and Oskar Blues’ Gordon. The Bière de Garde is a timely summer seasonal farmhouse-style ale, and we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try out a second beer from Oskar Blues. Hear our plea, Oskar Blues: we would love to have your beer distributed in Iowa. Thanks for listening everyone, cheers!
Saint Louis Brewery – Schlafly Bière de Garde
Style: Bière de Garde
ABV: 7%

Oskar Blues – Gordon
Style: Imperial/Double IPA
ABV: 8.7%
IBU: 60

Happy Hour #13 Show Notes

0:00-1:13- Introduction
1:13-18:06 – Schlafly Bière de Garde
18:06-54:29 - Oskar Blues Gordon
54:29-57:02 - Conclusion

Brew days can certainly be one of the more social beer events. When visiting Minneapolis, Shawn and I joined up with our friends at Ryan’s house for a day of beer creation and discussion. The crew at New Brew Thursday arranged a trade with Shawn, where he scored a bottle of Cuvée de Tomme from The Lost Abbey (a division of Pizza Port Brewing Company).

Similar to the beer we explored in our previous episode, Cuvée de Tomme is an example of the American Wild Ale style of beer – meaning sour or tart. I’m loving the diversity this style of beer brings. It seems the age of each one of these beers can change its flavor profile. So, a beer might have a flavor you may or may not love – yet you have to revisit it at a later point in time just to see how the beer has changed with age.

The Lost Abbey – Cuvée de Tomme
Style: American Wild Ale
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 11.0%

The Beer Genome Project #29 Show Notes

0:00-2:16- Introduction
02:16-16:12 – Cuvée De Tomme by The Lost Abbey
16:12-18:09 - Conclusion

Brought kicking and screaming into the world of sours? No way – we dive right in! I feel a bit ashamed that it had taken me this long to hear about Captain Lawrence Brewing, but I have been properly introduced thanks to Shawn and our friend Tyler. In this episode, Shawn and I take a crack at 375mL bottle of Cuvee De Castleton from Captain Lawrence. Any sort of reading before the tasting revealed the rarity of this beer, as well as how highly regarded it remains in the craft beer community. This was a shorter episode, focusing on the one beer, but it is all based around the idea of sour ales. Thanks for listening everyone, cheers!

This is a beer that will make you rethink your definition of beer. It doesn’t taste like any beer you’ve ever had, yet it doesn’t taste like anything else either. Pushing the limits of brewing is what makes this job so much fun. Malted barley, wild yeast, hand picked Muscat Grapes, and French oak wine barrels are just a few of the things that went into crafting this beer. Breathe deep, take a long sip, and enjoy the creation in your hand.

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company – Cuvée de Castleton
Style: American Wild Ale
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 8.0%

The Beer Genome Project #28 Show Notes

0:00-3:43- Introduction
03:43-19:54 – Cuvée de Castleton by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
19:54-20:55 - Conclusion

First, I have a bit of backstory for everyone. This episode was first recorded mid-February, following the Minnesota Craft Brewer’s Winterfest. We lost that original audio and our reviews for some New Glarus beers. So we recorded again, with most of the same conversation and two new Dogfish Head beers at a later date. We nearly lost that audio as well. It’s mid-April and nearly all of the news presented in this episode is nearly irrelevant now. Events have passed by. However, I maintain that Shawn and I probably had our best conversation yet, which is why I had to drag this episode kicking and screaming through the editing process and now lay it out for you listeners here today.

Winterfest in St. Paul was an incredible experience because it brought together the great brewing minds of Minnesota with the large community of craft beer drinkers. In this show we talk about our favorite selections of beer available as well as those that may have missed the mark. This week’s reviews are of Dogfish Head Brewery’s Indian Brown Ale and Raison D’etre. There’s plenty of conversation about homebrewing, Twitter, as well as the changing laws in Iowa’s beer culture. Without further delay, I present the longest recorded episode of The Beer Genome Project. Thanks for listening this week, cheers!

Dogfish Head Brewery – Indian Brown Ale
Style: American Brown Ale
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 7.2%
IBU: 50

Dogfish Head Brewery – Raison D’etre
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 8.0%
IBU: 36

The Beer Genome Project #27 Show Notes

0:00-0:45- Introduction
00:45-13:43 – Rundown to Winterfest
13:43-32:48 - Winterfest 2010
32:48 -45:32 – Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
45:32-59:43 – Dogfish Head Raison D’etre
59:43-1:16:51 – Beer News
1:16:51-1:26:34 – Conclusion

This episode was probably recorded somewhere near the beginning of winter 2009. So even though it’s a few months past recording date, there is quite a bit of relevant information to be taken from this episode. I was joined by Jason to review the 2009 Oak Aged Imperial Stout from Left Hand Brewing of Colorado. The history of the Russian Imperial Stout style is of interest as it played to both the drinking culture of the region as well as having to endure the process of being shipped across the Baltic. There have certainly been similar discussions about the strength of beers shipped from Britain to India. One note of interest is the oak casks used for the aging of this Imperial Stout were brandy barrels and not the more common bourbon barrels. According to Left Hand, it wasn’t the entire recipe that was cask aged, but merely 25% that was later blended with the rest of the beer.

Left Hand Brewing – Oak Aged Imperial Stout
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.20%
IBU: 50
Plato: 22

Game changer! Ever so often, in the process of exploring as much of the craft beer world as possible, Shawn and I will come across a beer that epitomizes why we do what we do. Truly I don’t want to give away much of the episode’s discussion – but this was a milestone for us.

Avery Brewing Company – Samael’s Oak-Aged Ale
Style: Oak Aged English Strong Ale
ABV: 15.53%
IBU: 41
OG: 1.140

This week, the guys bring a review of one of Shawn’s favorite breweries from the Land of the Rising Sun. Hitachino Nest is a brewery within a brewery; its parent company Kiuchi, has been brewing saké for nearly 200 years. These intriguing ales have been making their way into upscale Asian fusion restaurants, craft beer stores, and some beer bars throughout the Twin Cities for a couple years.

Coming from a land of adjunct rice lagers, the folks at Hitachino ferment an amazing, refreshing oddity, seemingly a frontrunner in the Japanese craft beer revolution. Our friends Stephen and John from New Brew Thursday recently visited Koji Nomura, owner of Craftheads in Shibuya, Japan, while John was on tour with his punk band, Better Luck Next Time.

If you happen to see a curious-looking bottle with a red owl on the center of the label during your next visit to the local craft store, take a few home and let us know what you think!

Hitachino Nest – Red Rice Ale
Style: Belgian-style Double
ABV: 7.0%
IBU: 11
OG: 1.070

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #10 Show Notes

0:00-0:22 - Introduction
0:22-14:25 – Red Rice Ale by Hitachino Nest
14:25-15:22 – Conclusion

Are you a big fan of bitter beers and Tyranena Brewing (@Tyranena) of Wisconsin? Then you might think that this episode was crafted especially for you. Shawn and I take some time to review two “out there” beers from our midwest sustenance provider. From their “Brewer’s Gone Wild” series, we have the Bitter Woman in the Rye, an India Pale Ale brewed with rye malt, and Hop Whore, an Imperial IPA.

Tyranena Brewing – Bitter Woman in the Rye
Style: Rye Beer
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): N/A
IBU: N/A

Tyranena Brewing – Hop Whore
Style: American Imperial IPA
ABV (Alcohol by Volume): N/A
IBU: N/A

The Beer Genome Project #26 Show Notes

0:00-0:59- Introduction
0:59-16:29 – Bitter Woman in the Rye by Tyranena Brewing
16:29-24:28 - Hop Whore by Tyranena Brewing
24:28 -53:20 – News and Events
53:20-56:53 – Conclusion

Peace Tree Brewing in Iowa
Peace Tree Brewing’s blog, @peacetreebrew on Twitter

Blue Moon Brewing celebrates rare coincidence this Dec. 31st with new beer
[http://news.draftmag.com]

You Know What Would Make For An Interesting Beer Festival…
[http://www.beerscribe.com]

Schells Hopfenmalz arrives in bottles early 2010
[http://beernews.org]

In recent months, Shawn and I have been trying to learn about homebrewing with our friends and via the web. I must say that Twitter has been awesome to do some quick crowd-sourcing to get some different perspectives on a question I had. One source of help has been homebrewer and gent Stephen Freshnock, a.k.a. @slovakbrewer on Twitter.

Shawn was able to meet up with Stephen when he made his trip to Chicago earlier this year. Then, sometime this fall, Shawn was also able to score a few bottles of Stephen’s homebrew. This week we’re releasing a Happy Hour episode in which Shawn and I were able to get together and share one of those homebrews: an Imperial Brown Ale. I asked Stephen to share a little back story on his beer to offer context for myself, Shawn and you (the reader/listener). Feel free to read his commentary now, but definitely make sure to come back after you hear the show. Thanks Stephen for letting us try your homebrew and discuss it here on our show; I look forward to future tastings and learning more as both Shawn and I begin our foray into homebrewing.

From Stephen:

Like many recipes this one came to me while in a drinking session. I was at a local pub enjoying the Imperial version of the Brown Ale. It was much drier and had cascade as the featured hop. I often think about what I would change not to improve the beer but to make it my own. In the winter I enjoy the thick tongue depressor beers like “Expedition”, “Darkness” etc.. I wanted to bring out those flavors without breaching the session-ability of the brown ale style. Being a home brewer gives me license to batter styles, so I hopped it like an IPA with Columbus. This gives it a resiny piney aroma that is so inviting and then you get his with a mouth full of malt to sits hand and hand with the hop flavor. It think the bitterness helps push the maltiness through and guide you to your next sip. The deep dark color is due to my process. Before I rinsing the grain bed, I do an extended recirculation of wort to improve clarity and set the grain bed. This means I am running wort through wort which darkens the color. I am willing to sacrifice color in order to improve the quality/stability of my beer. I also reduce the first gallon wort to 1/2 a gallon. This creates a super sweet unfermentable base to the beer. This also deepens the color further. This wort reduction also impacts flavor tremendously. The rich caramel and toffee flavors are a result of this. I layered a two different types of chocolate malt and 3 different low lovibond caramel malts to add complexity. There is a small bitterness charge at 90 minutes, a small flavor charge at 30. Then I pack in 3 ounces of Columbus in the last 15 minutes. There are 2 ounces at 1 minute, this results in the big hoppy aroma. This beer is meant to have more malt flavor and more hop aroma.

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #9 Show Notes

0:00-1:49 - Introduction
1:49-16:05 – American Brown Ale from @SlovakBrewer
16:05-17:46 – Conclusion

This episode is an oldie, but a goodie. My friend Jason (one of the many here at The Beer Genome Project) and I got together to primarily try out Schlafly’s Pumpkin Ale, and decided to throw on a few other beers that we haven’t yet had a chance to try.  Unfortunately Schlafly is not a brewery that we have access to here in Iowa, and it might take another road trip to Missouri before I can taste another. Additionally, Jason and I tried the Grand Cru from Schlafly as well as the Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide Brewing Company. Buckle in folks, this Happy Hour episode is true to its name in length. Cheers!

Saint Louis Brewery – Schlafly Grand Cru
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
ABV: 9.00%

Saint Louis Brewery – Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
Style: Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 8.00%

Great Divide Brewing Company – Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.50%

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #8 Show Notes

0:00-3:32 - Introduction
3:32-17:31 – Grand Cru by Schlafly (Saint Louis Brewery)
17:31-36:35 – Pumpkin Ale by Schlafly (Saint Louis Brewery)
36:35-57:41 – Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti by Great Divide Brewing
57:41-58:54 – Conclusion