Saison

Make Like a Tree and Get Out of Here…

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

Dogfish Head’s spruce infused pale ale, Pennsylvania Tuxedo, was a much sought after well regarded beer.  It was brewed in collaboration with Woolrich, an outdoor clothing company. The beer was brewed with fresh green spruce tips that were picked from Northern PA forests in the spring.  They give the beer a resin like flavor that is piney (obviously) and complements well with bitterness of the hops.  This is, without a doubt, a fantastic beer.

Dogfish Head likes to play with the notion that they are don’t do things the way everyone else is doing things; this is generally true. Putting thousands of handpicked little bits of new pine tree growth into a beer is certainly not the traditional way of brewing a pale ale.

If you like craft beer, and considering you are reading this blog I assume you do, chances are really good that you very much like this beer.  It is a damn fine pale ale. It is a little hard to find but definitely worth your efforts to try.

Is it “off-centered?”  Sure.

But is it daring?  I don’t think so.

Daring is putting an entire six-foot Douglas fir tree into your brew and hoping you do not end up kegging turpentine.

Theo Armstrong of ZerØday Brewing Co. did just that… put an entire six-foot Douglas fir tree into this beer.

 A glass of D.T.F Saison at the bar at ZerØday

When I saw that he was putting an entire six-foot tree into his brew I first assumed it was a joke. Then when it was clear that it was not a joke, I thought it was stupid and that it would never work.  I mean… You can’t just put the whole fucking tree in there.

Apparently, you can put the whole fucking tree in there and I am the stupid one. The end result was D.T.F. Sasion and it’s delicious.

Not everyone is going to love D.T.F. Saison. It is a piney, earthy, slightly sweet, semi-dry saison/farmhouse ale. D.T.F. is funky and has a strange nature that builds as you sip the medium bodied lightly carbonated brew. At first sip I thought “well I think I can taste the pine tree.” As the beer warmed up and throughout the drink the flavors stick and build on the palate like baseball pine tar upon a batting helmet over the course of the season. It’s slightly sticky and clear on opening day and by the end of the glass you have 162 games worth of rich, dark, earthy, aberrant flavors adhering to your mouth via a long finish.  I loved it.

This beer is daring because it is strange, unusual and riddled with risk.  I have not asked Theo, but if he says he KNEW the beer was going to turn out as well as it did, I wouldn’t believe it.  This beer easily could have turned into a disaster. In brewing, failure is not an infrequent occurrence.  Failed brews cause brewers to dump beers that just don’t turn out; even with beers that they have perfected over years of brewing. Sometimes, yeast just don’t eat. Temperatures get out of hand. Sometimes something goes wrong that is out of the brewer’s control.  Each ingredient, level of complexity, and step of the brewing process is an opportunity for failure.

Failing a brew at ZerØday would have been difficult. As far as I know they are working very hard to meet demand.  Theo is brewing all the time (while working his regular job).  To fail an entire batch at a brewery that is less than a year old would have been hard. If Dogfish Head’s Pennsylvania Tuxedo fails, they move on and no one outside can tell the difference.

Theo Armstrong put a six-foot pine tree in his beer and it turned out magnificently. Dogfish Head made a fine beer that in reflection to what ZerØday has done only is lacking in its audacity.  Being the little guy has its difficulties and advantages. Dogfish Head can’t put entire trees in their brews; they can’t really crank the dial to 11. ZerØday can and did.  D.T.F. Saison’s execution and flavors are outlandish and audacious; and it paid off in spades and you have to give it a try.

Dr. StrangeBrew or How I Learned to Quit Worrying and Love Funky Beer

~ Bearcat ~ Leave a comment

Dr. Stranglove

I have always been a Stout drinker.  I like my beers to be thick and hardy; to stick with you.  The deeper and the darker the better.  I love a nice hoppy beer but the malts always seemed to carry more depth of flavor.  The roundness of a proper malt character just works with my taste.

When I go into a bar with a decent tap list I would immediately scan the list for Stouts and Imperial Stouts but as of late I find myself looking for Saison and Farmhouse Ales.  I am drawn to the funkiness.  To the layer after layer of various favors.  To the subtle turns between sips.  They are weird and twisted and kind of strange.  I get the impression that these beers don’t always do what they are supposed to do.  The yeast operating like Peter Seller’s Dr. Strangelove.  They are fascinating to me right now.  Luckily there are a number of breweries that are providing excellent examples of the style right now that you can try in and around Central PA.

First up is ZerØday Brewing’s Saison 28.  I have mentioned this beer at least a couple times on the blog and frankly it deserves all the praise.  The beer was poured into a snifter and presented with a dried grass colored haziness. The aroma is slightly yeasty with a hint of lemongrass. It’s hoppy upfront with a proper floral bitterness that is welcoming.  The carbonation was as fine as to draw comparison to Champagne. The slight Farmhouse funk and earthy tones in the finish grow more pronounced as the beer warmed and disappeared from the short stubby glass.  This Saison is big and weighted in at 9.9% ABV but it drinks like some sub-4.0 near beers; careful with this one. This beer is as effervescent and deep as the girl that brewed it.  This beer is fantastic.  I loved it.

Shut Up, Meg by Evil Genius is the most approachable of the Farmhouse Ales I’ve had as of late.  It was mildly sour with a bright nose that lacked the deep earthy funkiness that can be off putting to some drinkers.  A cloudy straw colored ale that was forward tasting of citrus hops and a light spice finish this beer is easy drinking and is not loaded with booze at only 6%.  This is perfect for introducing someone to Saisons/Farmhouse ales.  It’s very well done and plays well with the subtle end of the Farmhouse ale spectrum.

Moo-Duck Brewery’s Just for Fun Ginger Saison was a special brew made just for Harrisburg Beer Week.  It is still around and available currently at the Elizabethtown brewery.  The aroma is citrusy with a strong but pleasant ginger spiciness in the nose.  Smooth drinking with slight farmhouse funk in the front and a long crisp and slightly sweet finish that brings the ginger flavor full circle. The funky flavors here are a little muted and make for a very easy drinking beer clocking in at 6% ABV.  The ginger puts a nice twist on the style and worked well.

Last was my favorite of the four, Dean Rustic Farmhouse Saison by Spring House Brewing Company.  I had this on draft at the Sturges Speakeasy and it was a great beer. In the nose I picked up cloves and a little spiciness from the yeast along with pears.  The taste opens up with a farmhouse funk and again some pears and apple; making it crisp in flavor.  The beer was not overly carbonated and provided for a nice dry mouthfeel.  As the beer warmed the big 9% ABV became evident but was not off putting.  The medium bodied beer is deep amber in color.  The finish is funky as hell with focus on earth tones and a long slightly sour dry finish that I loved.  This is a big beer that drinks lighter than it should; though not quite to the degree of Saison 28 above which masks the alcohol with what I assume is magic.

All four beers are very good and recommended.  Dean Rustic Saison and Saison 28 get the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

A Beer as Prologue For My Love of Craft Beer

~ Bearcat ~ 2 Comments

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About dozen years ago, when I first moved to Harrisburg from Pittsburgh I lived in downtown on North 2nd Street. I visited the bar scene along my street three to four nights a week. I worked at a beer distributor as a second job a couple weeknights and on weekends. Back then I considered myself above the average beer drinker because I preferred Guinness and spoke well of Yuengling Porter. Drinking dark beer alone a differentiator and sign of my good taste.

Then one cold afternoon more than a decade ago I wandered into Troegs Brewing Company’s tasting room; the one that used to be in Harrisburg. I had a Hopback, a Pale Ale or maybe even a Troeganator… it blew my mind. Here was beer of a completely different nature. It was flavorful in a way I did not know it could be. It was a revelation in every sense of the word.

Shortly there after, seeking out other beers of high regard I stepped into Appalachian Brewing Company (ABC) on Cameron Street. Their beers were sweeter and more approachable but no less interesting to my plebe beer tasting palate. Here again was beer brewed with care and respect. ABC’s then brewer, now owner/brewmaster of Roundabout Brewing in Pittsburgh, was my neighbor. This along with drinking regularly at Troegs helped expand my interest in craft beers.

Years later after I had given up on corporate beer and became fully committed to craft brews, a couple friends and I discovered Al’s of Hampden. This was back when he had six tables and maybe twenty or so taps. Here my world opened to styles of beer that I couldn’t have found elsewhere… Saisons, Black IPAs (remember when they were the new hotness), West Coast and triple IPAs and “What the hell is Brettanomyces?”

So last night at the Harrisburg Beer Week kickoff party, I had a beer that in many ways celebrated not just the region but my own journey to craft beer. (717) Collaboration Ale by ABC, Pizza Boy Brewing (Al’s of Hampden), and Troegs Brewing Company is my history with beer in a can. While Sara Bozich and the ladies at Stouts and Stilettos kicked off what took a ton of work to birth, I was thinking about my decade long journey with beer and the Harrisburg area; the two are woven together.

(717) Collaboration Ale is a strange beer that is brewed for a wonderfully strange area code. The area code where it gets its name holds a company town where government is the company. It is also home to some of the most fertile farmland in the country. The area has city life and Amish carriages all at once. Just as the area code is a hybrid, so is this beer. It has the character of noble hops like an IPA with the range of flavors of a Farmhouse Ale/Saison. This beer is hoppy in the front with a pronounced sweetness while providing the long dry finish and Chardonnay tang of a farmhouse brew.

Hybrid beers by their very nature are complex but this one is just uncanny in its depth. It starts with a billowy and long lasting head from a vigorous pour that provides a welcome yeast and peppery aroma along with some sweet and sour flavors in the nose. The slightly amber and completely clear and clean appearance are inviting and representative of the exacting standards these brewers demand.

The flavor profile provides for a bit of the honey sweetness up front as is typical for ABC beers in my opinion. The middle is all hops with a generous Nugget hop profile that is all Troegs. The finish is long and dry with a proper white wine and slightly sour notes clearly attributed to Pizza Boy Brewing’s history of sublime sours. The ability to definitively pick out the distinct characteristics of the three brew houses is truly unique for this collaboration. This beer is incredibly impressive on multiple levels.

The 7.17% ABV ale is easy drinking and sits comfortably in either a standard pint glass to be casually imbibed or savored in a snifter quietly with reflection. 

It is available on draft during Harrisburg Beer Week at Al’s of Hampden, ABC, and Troegs and will be released in 16 oz cans on Monday, April 27th at distributors in the area. If you get the chance, I highly recommend picking some up.

(717) Collaboration Ale gets the Bearcat Seal of Approval.

CSA Beer > CSA Arugula

~ Bearcat ~ 1 Comment

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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a big deal these days.  It does things like providing direct support to local and community farms and giving families season long access to fresh fruits and vegetables.  That is a good thing.  It also lets you lord over your friends with things like how you KNOW where your food comes from, “I only eat seasonally available food”, and “my home is now only farm to table.”

It’s the first step towards being an anti-GMO, anti-vaxxer truther but as long as you keep just to the CSA, we your friends, promise to not hate you too much.

The guys at Fetish Brewing Company (simply known as Aaron, Brandon, and Mike) have taken the CSA farming idea and applied it to brewing.

I did not sign up back in January when the chance appeared.  Now after finding two of their brews at The Fridge and finally giving them a try I am starting to regret it.

You see, my initial thought when I first heard about the CSA approach to brewing was: “I am aggressively promiscuous with my beers.  I have few loyalties and I don’t want to be tied down to any one brewer.”  Also there is a high level of trust here… I am buying all my beer from these guys up front; I have to hope they will still be there through the end of twelve months.

That might have been shortsighted on my part.  For two years these guy have delivered; so things appear to be working out.  In fact so much so that they are now selling commercially, although in very, very limited quantities around Lancaster.

As such, I was able to procure a bottle of Submissive (American IPA) and Spelt (Farmhouse-Style Ale); each were reasonably priced for what were 1 pint 0.9 oz bottles.

First Submissive, it pours out an amber and cloudy ale with a stark white bubbly head the provided beautiful lacing throughout the drink.  An aroma of resin from the hops is mild but pleasant.  This IPA is not bombed out in piney and citrusy hops.  This was at first strange.  I figured prior to opening that I would be calling out a safe-word while the beer levied a heavy dose of punishing bitter hops, but I was wrong. I was expecting something along the lines of Palate Wrecker, Chinookie or Hopsickle.  This was different. It was subtle and relaxed.  It was not trying to get me to bend to its will, but was instead inviting and easy sipping.  This was a submissive beer.  It was not abrasive or astringent and at 6.5% ABV was about the subtle flavors.  Hints of pine, lemongrass and a long but not overly dry finish make this beer very easy drinking. This was a good beer.

Next came Spelt; a brew presumably made with the old world grain by the same name.  A few years ago Troegs brewed Scratch Beer #118 with spelt.  Scratch #118 was a Saison but was much more inviting and easy drinking.  What Fetish has done here is make a Farmhouse ale for people that like funky ales.  The beer poured bright golden hue with a furious bubbling head that quickly dissipated.  The nose is of yeast and some bread dough along with a slight farmhouse funk as is to be expected.  The spelt grain provides a wheat like flavor and adds a level of complexity to the ever so slightly sour, crisp lemon and faint pepperiness.  The finish is long and dry with earthy tones making this 7.22% ABV a real sipper. As the beer warms to room temperature it opens up and all the flavors embolden. Spelt gets the Bearcat Seal of Approval

So would I, a proclaimed bachelor when it comes to beers be willing to be tied down to Fetish Brewing for a year?  Yeah… I could submit to that idea.