Allagash Midnight Brett at Kite & Key

Took my customary trip to Kite & Key this past Tuesday and, lo and behold, all but one of the Allagash beers was still available from the previous week's event. Huzzah! There were actually quite a few beers I could have chosen but I ended up going with Midnight Brett, a mix of a beer made with brett and some midnight wheat which must be a slightly roasted version of wheat plus some other stuff.

I didn't really know what to expect from this beer. Sure, there was a description, but it more described the ingredients than anything. The nose was a lot of sour cherry with something behind it that I couldn't quite place. Medium bodied, slightly on the thicker side. Vanilla cherry up front, followed by some berry fruit, and then finished with a little bitterness. As I drank more, I got a little roastiness that blended with the cherry pretty well. The tart fruit was the main flavor throughout. Pretty good beer, glad I gave it a try.

On a separate note, if anyone was thinking about going to the Epic Beer Fest (mentioned at the bottom of this post), I was sent a coupon code of MBL2013 which gets you $10 off a GA ticket until October 20th, max four tickets per purchase. As I said, I'll be at the evening session for a while if you are choosing between the two.

Allagash Cookbook at Pub & Kitchen

Last night I was invited to the release party at the Pub & Kitchen for Allagash: The Cookbook. I hadn't heard anything about the cookbook up until last week when the invite arrived in my inbox but apparently it's about two years in the making. That a ton of time was put into the book really shows in every piece of it: the pictures, the recipes, and the overall build quality.

The event had Allagash's Rob Tod and Suzy Woods along with the photographer for the book, Brian Smestad. In the below picture, Brian is in the middle, Rob to his left, and Suzy is to his left.

Philly Beer Week Day 2: Kite & Key

Originally for day 2 of Philly Beer Week we were going to go down to South Philly for the saison event at Tapestry, but we decided instead to just hang in our neighborhood for the evening. So around 5pm we wandered over to Kite & Key, missing the Gladiator games part of the event but in time for great beers. The real event looked like a lot of fun but maybe next year. The beers being poured were a combo of Allagash, Dogfish Head, and Yards and at least all of their beers were still pouring when we arrived.

I started with a glass of the Yards Bourbon Bart, the bourbon barrel aged version of their Olde Bartholomew.

Allagash Saison Mihm

Yet again, I was lucky enough to order one of the beers on the Tuesday following a Savage Sixtel Sunday. Actually, everything except Younger was still pouring so I could have had anything but still. This time it was the Allagash Saison Mihm, a saison made with honey and some other stuff. (edit: I've since been told by their rep Beerlass, the other stuff was juniper and lemongrass. So it's no longer just other stuff. Thanks Suzy!)

I'll say the extra hours of sunlight is certainly great for the ability to actually take pictures at the Kite & Key. Means you can actually see what the beers look like again. Nice sweet honey and floral nose. Hints of fruit underneath the sweetness. Body followed with an emphasis on the honey sweetness. At first, there was a sharp bite from the alcohol but it was pretty cold so that's probably why. Once I warmed it up a bit, the sharpness mostly went away. Definitely pretty good and quite enjoyable.

Random Tuesday Tasting Part 1

A couple weeks ago, I went over a friend's house with another buddy to hang out and split some beers. Considering it was a Tuesday we weren't planning on opening too much but, well, things didn't really work out that way and we ended up opening 8 different beers. Since eight at once would be too much, I'm going to talk about four of them today and then the rest tomorrow just to avoid boring you all.

We started with the Allagash Tenth Anniversary, an imperial witbier that's about 5 years old at this point.

Dock Street and Local 44

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Dock Street decided to have a bottle release party for their Prisoner of Hell. Included with that release were bottles of last years Prince Myshkin and their '09 Barleywine. I realize I already have one of each of those two but, well, a second means when I drink one I still have one. Brilliant right? I think so at least and that's what matters to me. Plus, I met up with some friends for dinner so it wasn't totally just about the bottles.

When I got there, they hadn't started pouring the flemish red yet so I ordered the Rye IPA.

Grapefruit nose, slight rye spice. Started with the same slight rye flavor, moved on to being slightly bitter, and finished slightly peppery. Nice, balanced rye IPA without being too over the top with anything. Good way to start the visit.

Lunch at Jose Pistola's

I haven't been back to Jose Pistola's since Philly Beer Week so I decided to head there for lunch last Friday. It had just been too long since I had a beer and a giant burrito there. I started with a glass of Allagash Victoria, a tripel aged with grapes, something I've been wanting to try for a long time now.

Tripel like aroma, slightly belgian, nice dryness. Very tasty first sip. Slightly tart, hint of grapes, very clean finish. As I drank more, the tartness never grew and was quite delicious. Never a hint of the alcohol either considering it's 9%. This was one tasty beer.

South Philly Tap Room

Jo and I went to do some Christmas shopping in South Philly so we decided to stop by South Philly Tap Room for dinner and some drinks on the way home.  This replaced our trip to Devil's Den so I lied in my previous post.  Oh well, you'll just have to learn to live with the disappointment.  This was my first visit to SPTR so I was pretty excited.  I've heard a lot of good things about it and it lived up to all of them.  The draft list was quite varied and the food was really good.  I got a great meatball hoagie and Jo got an open-faced roast chicken sandwich that was quite delicious.  Plus there is a decently priced bottle shop called Brews across the street so you can stock up on things you need after having dinner.  How convenient.

To start, I got a beer I've been eying for a while, Allagash Interlude, an American Wild Ale.

It had a tart, fruit smell with a little funk in the background.  Not overpowering and very interesting.  Initial sip was tart and sour, but without the puckering lactic sourness that exists in some of the more pronounced sours.  Nice base of sweetness to buoy the sour flavors and keep them from ruining your mouth.  Jo really enjoyed this as well so take that as you will.  We both decided it had a lemonade like flavor although without the ridiculous sugar that exists in most.  I guess you could call it beeronade?  Hmm, maybe not since that sounds remarkably dumb.

After flip-flopping between Ommegang Adoration and Manayunk Iron Curtain, I decided to order Manayunk's Russian Imperial Stout since we're going to Ommegang in March anyway.

Cocoa, coffee and some roasted malt in the nose.  Quite inviting.  Some warming alcohol up front followed by some sweetness to counteract it.  The cocoa and coffee flavors fight with the alcohol a bit with the alcohol initially winning but, as is usual, the alcohol notes disappeared as I drank more.  It's a flavor that's easy to get past. at least for me, which allows the tastier stuff to come to the front.  Nice thick mouthfeel too.  Good offering from Manayunk even if it wasn't quite as tasty as the Stones Russian Imperial Stout I had the other day.  Hard to compete with them though.  Enjoyable end to the meal.

Another Sunday, Another trip to Capone's

Jo and I can't stop going to Capone's on Sundays.  Delicious, twenty five cent wings along with a great draft list keep dragging us back.  Their wings are great and at 25 cents they are an absolute steal.  We also got a Chicken Parm sandwich which was also delicious.  As usual their tap list was quite diverse although once again the list that I got in the email on Wednesday had things that had already kicked.  Kind of to be expected considering the quality of beer in the email but one of these days I'll get one.

I started with the Rodenbach Vintage 2007, a Flanders Red Ale.  I posted a while back about Rodenbach Vintage 2008.

Reading my old post, this seemed pretty similar to the 2008. Very sour smell, pretty close to a sweet vinegar.  As I've said before, it sounds bizarre but it's absolutely delicious.  This tastes of fruit (I get sour cherry but I'm sure it varies between people), some balsamic, and just general tartness.  Drinking more I got some apple flavor as well.  Really great beer and I was excited to get to try another vintage of it.  I love the Flemish Red style right now.

After that, I changed gears a little and got a glass of Allagash Odyssey, a Dark Wheat beer that's been aged half in stainless steel tanks and half in oak barrels and then blended together.

Let me first say that this beer just blew me away.  I thought it was fantastic.  The smell was interesting in that it was sort of floral and perfumy.  I got hints of wheat, some roasted notes from the dark malts, caramel, and bananas.  It had a nice body to it and was super smooth.  For what started as a Dunkel Weizen this ended up super complex and incredibly tasty.  As it warmed up, I also got some toffee and slight oak notes.  Just so good.

Finally, since I've heard a decent bit about it, I got a glass of Sierra Nevada's Celebration, an IPA.

I didn't actually realize it was an IPA when I ordered it, but it was pretty obvious when it came out.  Smelled very hoppy with some grapefruit.  It tasted a little sweet but was overall quite hoppy.  Surprisingly clean finish though.  It's quite popular on Beer Advocate and while it was good I'm not sure why.  IPAs aren't my thing though so maybe it's good for an IPA.  It was good and all but I just didn't find anything special about it.  Still, something to order if you want something relaxing and easy to drink.

Yet again a great visit to Capone's.  I love this place.  The bottle shop is so dangerous though and Jo encouraging me doesn't help.  I came out of it this time with three bottles.

I picked up Dark Horse Plead the 5th 2009, Stone's Russian Imperial Stout, and Avery Mephistopheles.  I can't wait to try them.

It's a Bourbon (Beer) Afternoon

Hulmeville Inn hosted their second annual Beer Geek BBQ on Sunday and had a really great tap list to go along with it.  While I had quite a few awesome beers, the stand outs for me were the three bourbon barrel aged beers: Dark Horse Bourbon Aged Plead the Fifth, Allagash Bourbon Black, and Port Older Viscosity.  The first is a barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout, the Allagash is a barrel aged Belgian Strong Ale and the Older Viscosity is a barrel aged Imperial Stout.  Hulmeville had them all in different sizes and availability which was pretty nice considering their strength.

Jose Pistola's Three year anniversary

Spent an afternoon at Jose Pistola's today for their three year anniversary.  I was hoping to try the four year old Barleywine that Adam said they had in the basement, but it didn't seem like it was going to be on draft any time soon so I didn't get a chance.  However, I did get to finally try Russian River Supplication and a surprise in Allagash Fluxus.  I've been wanting to try the Supplication for a long while since it seems to be a counter point to their Consecration and I wanted to see the difference between the two.

Luckily when I got there the Supplication was already on draft.

Its look was a cross between the Ichtegem's and Petrus from last night.  Basically a light brownish color instead of the golden or dark brown.  The smell was similar to the Petrus with a little bit more fruit in the nose.  Reasonably enough because the Supplication has cherries added to it before being aged in the French oak Pinot Noir barrels.  Once tasting it, the cherry really comes through in the flavor of the beer.  It's all sour up front similar to the Petrus, but the back edge of it is the cherries.  It's kind of like the Cantillon Kriek really in that respect.  All in all, I liked the Supplication better than the Consecration mostly because the cherry flavor is tastier than the currant edge of the Consecration and the 7% is much more drinkable than the 10%.  Really though if someone bought me either beer I'd be psyched so liking one more than the other really doesn't much matter.

After that I had the Allagash Fluxus.  I hadn't ever heard about this but when I looked it up on Beer Advocate and it said Imperial Stout, I ordered it immediately.  Hell, if I had looked it up earlier I probably would have ordered it first.  I'm a sucker for Imperial Stouts.

You can't see much from that picture, but rest assured it was nearly black and looked delicious.  The head was a nice brownish purple which to me means it's going to be awesome.  The first sip was pure Hazelnut.  I know it sounds weird, but such is taste.  At 10+%, it was amazingly drinkable.  The more I had of it, the more the flavors built up.  Of course, once Jo showed up and I made her taste it, she claimed it just tasted like burnt malts but she always thinks that when I make her try porters and stouts so who needs her opinion.

After that I had another of each of them so all in all it was a great beer Sunday.  As I said, I wish I had been able to try the barleywine as it was 4 years old and from a closed brewery but hopefully I'll be able to have some tomorrow.  And regardless of that the two beers I did get to try were really amazing.  The Supplication was delicious and Allagash impressed me with another excellent beer.  It's a shame a case of the Supplication is $130 because I really wouldn't mind having some around the house.  Hopefully with Russian River becoming more available in Philly the cost of it will come down.  That or I'll be able to convince one of my sister in laws to bring me some from California.