A BEER UNTO ITSELf

The return of New Year seasonal beers is always a joy to behold. For the over-the-hop crowd there is Bell’s Hopslam What could now be considered a classic example of what is known as American IPA. I had this years ago, and again I found to be tasty but not worthy of all the hype.
Something I found more interesting is our local Madtree Brewing Company’s PSYCHOPATHYPerhaps it is because this beer is local and wonderfully fresh.
Speaking of local, Mt. Carmel Brewing Company’s SPRINGTIME ALEa beautiful recipe using a Scottish-style that is approachable and delicious. Again, this may be a matter of logistic freshness.
It was ironic to see, this year, Genesee Bock in a bottleAfter all those years of being craft-beer-in-a can I now see the Heritage edition in bottles and cans!
Since bock is on my lips, and Spring in my soul, it is a delicious sight indeed to see the return of Hudepohl Festival Bock and its big brother Christian Moerlein Emancipator Dopplebock.
These two along with Rivertown Brewing’s Bock are wonderful reminders of the rich Germanic brewing roots found in Southwest Ohio.

Old And New Brews That Are True

One of the benefits of being a beer seeker for 30 years is you get to experience trends in brewing that have been in decline, suddenly appear brand new. Take the style known as Roggenbier, a medieval ale, as the German Beer Institute points out, made with rye malt. Abandoned for centuries, this ale style is undergoing a revival in the United States, and now receiving national attention, through the introduction of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s latest seasonal, Ruthless Rye IPA.

The use of rye malt in brewing has quite a history. In Finland, Sahti is produced using rye combined with juniper berries. In Eastern Europe, Kvass was created as a very low alcohol drink that existed before the invention of modern soft drinks. Rye malt has been around for a very long time, although mostly unnoticed.

With Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA, you have a dark copper-coloured pour with a spicy nose. With a first drink, the rye becomes quite apparent. Sierra Nevada’s famous hops personality is given a twist here. The peppery notes from the rye abound in this recipe, while the extensive use of whole hop cones, combine with the malts to deliver a complex tasting experience. This has a bit of a bite in the long dry finish, which may be somewhat of a shock to a younger hop focused audience. Thankfully there is also full malt support for the hops abundance. Very well achieved flavour complexity that is astounding in its uncompromising quality.

The old and new combine in interesting combinations. Nowadays, there is all the talk about the craft can beer revolution. But I think back to 20 years ago when friends I knew could not believe I was enjoying beer out of a can. And when they tried what I was drinking, they were quite surprised to find they enjoyed it too. That was Genesee Bock Beer from Rochester, New York. They could not believe such a tasty beer came out of a can. I offered up the thought that the Ball corporation made very good aluminum cans, but that wasn’t the answer. The recipe dated back to 1951, but that was just modern production history, for actually Genesee Bock dates back to 1878.
What a joy it is to have this year’s batch of what is quintessentially an American classic. A flavourful can of beer, long before that notion was even considered cool.

In the world of beer each new year brings surprises. A good example is the Christian Moerlein Saengerfest Maibock which appeared at the end of spring, beautifully balanced with a generous, juicy malty palate with a floral note in the finish. As described in my original notes as “one of the best American beers sampled this year”.  But my perception is  biased perhaps, because I truly love bock beers, including the golden coloured ones, with a hint of honey-nectar in the nose.

The same can be said of Oktoberfest. Funny how matters sometimes work out. Only a week ago, minus a day, the temperature reached 100 degrees and people complained that it was too hot to be drinking Marzen. This was before a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico caused the season to turn in the Ohio Valley, and only 2 days later, I was out in the backyard drinking Samuel Adams Octoberfest with temperatures in the upper 50’s.

Some folks have complained about Oktoberfest beers appearing too early. Taste wise, this is sometimes true. When Samuel Adams version comes out at the beginning of August, it does not have the malty depth that it has now. Sampling a 22 ounce bottle each week of that month, it was fascinating to notice its development: from a very bright Nouveau creation where hops are in the forefront, to the malty depth and goodness found post-Labor Day, where the five malts have their say, as it were. As they say in cosmological physics: gravity has the final word.

The release of Hudepohl Oktoberfest Bier is joyous event for me, here in southwestern Ohio. It also compliments their Moerlein Fith &Vine Oktoberfest, which is also a tribute to Oktoberfest Zinzinnati. In fact much of this is a Cincinnati story. The revival of the Hudepohl name is a tribute to this city’s beer baron past. This version of Marzen, I do believe would make Ludwig Hudepohl II proud.

Guinness Black Lager: The beer experts continue to weigh in on this. Some go to great lengths to describe the appearance of the pour, totally ignoring the instructions from Guinness that this beer is designed to be served cold and consumed straight from the bottle. Which I did, and found it to be an alternative to Bud, Miller and Coors, very drinkable with moderate alcohol strength. Which is perhaps what Guinness is aiming at: a decent beer for the football-tailgating crowd. The question has arisen whether Guinness Black Lager reflects the character of the St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin. I would have to say yes. It will be interesting to see whether this first bottom fermented Guinness actually sells.