Stone Saison du Buff aged in Red Wine Barrels

This was sent to me forever ago by my buddy in San Diego and was a great surprise just for its uniqueness. I've never actually had the original Saison du Buff, which is kind of funny or dumb depending on who you ask considering the distribution but whatever. So this is obviously a saison aged in red wine barrels and this version was brewed by Stone. (There were versions brewed by Stone, Victory, and Dogfish Head which is why I'm specifying the brewery like that.)

Big herbal nose with a little fruitiness in the back. The barrel is really minimal there. First sip was again sharply herbal with a bit of bitterness and then some light apple and cherry fruit flavors. The latter are almost definitely from the aging and the former flavors from the base. I wonder if the saison part was brighter or even more herbal when fresh, but since I've never had it, I dunno. Still, it was tasty enough though I wish the red wine barrel had imparted a bit more flavor. Thanks Eric!

Stone 16th Anniversary

Stopped by Kite & Key yesterday and went with the Stone 16th Anniversary, a Double IPA made with lemon verbena, some rye, and a mix of different hops. If you want more info, just go here to Stone's website and read all about it.

Citrus nose, pretty bright and fresh. Some caramel, pine, citrus, and an herbal spice character that must be the lemon verbena. It was sweeter than I usually expect from a Stone IPA but the finish was still full of a lingering bitterness. Decent enough and worth ordering to check it out once. The herbal quality was certainly interesting.

Soccer at Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant

Last week, I decided I wanted to watch the gold medal match for women's soccer in the Olympics. Sure it started in the middle of the day, but whatever, my job is cool with me leaving at 2:30. After putting out some feelers on twitter and asking PhillyTapFinder if he had any opinions, I settled on Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant. While they didn't have the sound available on the tvs, the beer list was strong and the food there is pretty good. Plus it's convenient to get to since it's just off the blue line.

I started with a beer I've wanted to try for a while, Stoudts Old Abominable, a barleywine.

2009 Stone Old Guardian

I bought this one at Capone's at some point after he'd already been aging it for a couple years. I don't really remember how long he had it versus it sitting in my basement though, not that it really matters.

Big nose on it. Lots of caramel sweetness with nice old hop notes. I realize if you don't really know what old hops smell like that description doesn't do you much good, but it's the best I can do. They are kind of earthy and grassy. Thick body. Still quite bitter on the first sip. Underlying caramel and fruit with a bitter finish as well. Remarkable bitterness at 3 years though I'm not sure if bitterness really fades in aging. I guess if enough other flavors, like the sherry notes from oxidation, overcome it then it may go away, but I don't really know. Still, quite delicious regardless and held up well over 3 years.

Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale

The Vertical Epic series from Stone brewing was started February 2nd, 2002 with 02.02.02 followed by another release on March 3rd, 2003 with 03.03.03, etc. Get the pattern yet? Each year is a different style but they were sort of meant to be aged until December 12th, 2012 and then shared together. The 02.02.02 goes for a bunch of money on ebay which is pretty funny. I don't know if it will work out as some of the styles don't seem like they'll age well but Stone seemed to think so. The 09.09.09 I opened is a Belgian Stout.

At first I thought the nose was slightly sour, but soon realized it was a result of the roast mixing with the hops and Belgian yeast. Pretty interesting. Nice body on it even after 3 years. Rich creaminess up front, vanilla, some dark fruit and then earthy hop bitterness to finish it off. Very tasty and definitely holding up well. Enjoyable even in the 90+ heat we had last Friday. Air conditioning really is the best thing on earth.

Trip to Hulmeville

Haven't been back to the Hulmeville Inn since the awesome Beer Geek BBQ for Natalie and I thought a trip was in order. Since I had to meet up with my buddy Greg anyway I figured why not at one of the best bars in the suburbs. I started with a Stone Imperial Russian Stout and for those following along, yes, I had this quite recently at the Kite & Key. It's delicious, so sue me.

Not going to talk about it much other than to say it was chocolatey, smooth with a hint of vanilla. Just an excellent imperial stout and always a pleasure.

Stone Imperial Russian Stout at Kite & Key

I've been waiting for the Stone Imperial Russian Stout to go on draft for almost a month now. It showed up on the upcoming list a while ago which got me excited and then actually came on draft once, but was taken off for Savage Sixtel Sunday before I got a chance to try it. Finally, yesterday, it was back and I ordered a glass before I even sat down at the bar.

Roasty aroma with a hint of chocolate in it. First sip had some chocolate and roast flavors in it followed by some hints of vanilla. All of that continued as I worked my way through the glass and as it warmed, they got a bit more intense. I'll say that while I enjoyed it, the bottle I had a while back (bottom of here) was better for whatever reason. I don't know if the bottle had a bit of age on it or if it was the warmer temperature I served it at, but the flavors were just a bit more intense and the body was creamier. Still, I enjoyed the draft of it I had and can't complain too much.

Beer Schooled at the Hulmeville

This past Tuesday I drove up to the Hulmeville Inn for a home brewing class offered by Beer Schooled.  When I first found out about the class, I figured it would be an interesting way to solidify my random knowledge of home brewing and I was pretty much correct.  It also turned out to be a good way to hang out with Kevin and Greg and have a couple good beers.

I started with a small glass of Stone Double Bastard, an American Strong ale aka a strong, hoppy beer.

Weekend!

After a relaxing Thanksgiving with many great beers, Jo and I made our way back to Philadelphia.  On the way (okay not in any way on the way since it's 45 minutes past our apartment) we stopped at the Victory Brewpub.  Originally, I was going to pick up some bottles of Dark Intrigue, their new Barrel Aged Storm King, but they sold out of 70 cases in about 45 minutes November 24th so that idea was shot.  However, I also wanted to pick up a shirt from them, so we decided to go anyway.  When we arrived the parking lot was super full, but we managed to find some seats at the bar.

I started with a glass of Old Horizontal, their barleywine.

Smelled strongly of alcohol with very little sweetness.  The last few barleywines I've had all smelled very sweet so this was quite a change.  Initially, it tasted like slightly bitter alcohol.  After drinking some more, I realized it was just really heavily hopped.  Similar to Stones Old Guardian, but even hoppier.  The bitterness didn't linger, but every sip I took started with it.  It relaxed a bit as I had more but definitely a different take on the style.

I followed that up with a glass of Yakima Glory, a Black IPA.  At one point this was known as Yakima Twilight but they changed the name probably due to trademark issues but who knows.  If you do know, drop a comment about it.

Very pretty pour as they had it on one of their hand pumps.  It looked slightly darker in person than in the picture but regardless it's still darker than a regular IPA.  Smelled hoppy.  Very creamy.  Some roast followed by a lot of hop flavor but no real bitterness.  The fact that it was on hand pump masks some of the hop bitterness in a similar way as having it on nitro in my opinion.  I find the consistency and mouth feel change pretty dramatically.  I thought this was quite pleasant and would be interested in trying it again out of a normal tap to see the differences.

After that we drove home and worked on cleaning the house to get ready to put up some Christmas decorations.  To relax, I popped the bottle of Stones Imperial Russian Stout I bought from Capone's a few weeks back.

I noticed later that the gargoyle on the bottle is wearing one of those tall, Russian hats which is pretty funny.  Pretty neat bottle in my opinion.  Smelled sweet with some alcohol, mild coffee and some chocolate notes.  Initially, I got bittersweet chocolate flavors with a pleasant warming from the alcohol.  Some roast and even some really mild tart flavors in the background, almost cherryish.  No bitterness at all and really well balanced between the alcohol and the rest of the flavors.  This is probably one of the best Imperial Russian Stouts I've ever had.  Definitely lived up to its reputation.

Devil's Den is having an event December 1st that Jo and I should be going to.  They said they'd have different oaked or aged beers on draft so there should be some good stuff.

Weyerbacher Riserva Release

The 2010 release of Riserva finally arrived and boy was it worth the wait.  Weyerbacher released it on Friday November 12th with a small event at their brewery where they offered samples of it plus a few of their other beers.  Jo and I drove up there after work and were both very excited for it.  Me to try the Riserva and Jo because it sounded fun.

Stone's Old Guardian

After our trip to Weyerbacher, we stopped at Pearly Baker's Ale House and I had a glass of Stone's Old Guardian.

The first thing you should notice is that this bar is crazy.  The Old Guardian is 11.1% and they served it to me in a freaking pint glass.  In Philly, you'd probably get this in a 10oz glass instead because of its strength.  However, I wasn't going to complain.

It came out a nice reddish brown color with minimal head.  The first flavor is very like a barleywine, sweet and strong.  The finish of it is all Stone's though and is all hops.  At first I thought it was going to end up being unpleasant, but the hop flavors were overwhelmed by the strength of the beer.  I'm betting after a year of age this beer is pretty amazing since the hop flavors would be even more mild and just give it a pleasant background flavor.

I also had a glass of Allagash Black but don't have any pictures of it.  If you see it give it a try as it was quite good.  I'll talk about it when I get a chance to try it again.