Texas Beer Nerd

Stone has rarely if ever disappointed me. So while I can’t say I feel disappointed with their Espresso Imperial Russian Stout I will say that there are some things I would have done differently. I’ll describe the beer as it is first like I always do. It pours a deep, thick black with a nice coffee-colored head that mostly dies down and lightens slightly after awhile. At 11 percent ABV, this is a monster of a beer and though the alcohol can’t really be tasted, other than a burny bite at the end of the sip, it can certainly be felt pretty quickly. This is a beer to savor for sure. Chugging or even taking large gulps is out of the question…unless you’re a crazy person. You’d probably miss most of the flavors too if you don’t linger on a sip. Speaking of that, there’s the prerequisite roasty maltiness that all good stouts must have. But since this is an imperial stout there’s some hop bitterness going on as well mid-palate. The espresso makes itself known in that somewhat astringent way I expected it too, being the dark, hardcore type of coffee it is. Alongside the coffee flavor itself there’s a nice bit of dark chocolate at the end. The main problem this beer has comes from all the sharp flavors at once. While each, coffee, hops and alcohol are fine on their own, the coupling of them is kind of too much. This beer needs a better balancing agent. I’m thinking either tone down the alcohol content just a hair or add some more Guinness-style creamy maltiness. Though being a hop lover, malty is perfectly acceptable to me if it’s in a stout and it’s not too sweet. 

Firemans 4 is arguably Blanco, TX-based Real Ale’s most popular beer, though in my opinion it’s far from their best. It’s a blonde ale, definitely on the lighter side. The lighter the beer, the more mass appeal it seems to have. But it’s still good that craft brewers do brew light beers because that entices people away from the macros like Miller and Bud. Anyway, Fireman’s 4 has some juicy, malty, yeasty and soapy similarities to wheat beers that I don’t care for. This new Summer seasonal version, dubbed Four Squared, is dry-hopped and it turns out that’s just what Fireman’s 4 needed all along, an injection of pure hoppiness to balance out the malt more. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say this beer is hoppy on an IPA level it is on a level of an American Pale Ale like Sierra Nevada for example. The hops provide some nice bitterness, sticky resin qualities and a fairly dry finish. The core of Fireman’s 4 is still around. The citrus flavor still comes mostly from the yeasty and malty qualities as opposed to the hops, so it has that “baked goods” feel as opposed to the more tart and crisp citrus hops impart. If this beer was how Firemans 4 was all the time I’d definitely drink it more often. Four Squared isn’t going to replace IPAs as my hoppy beers of choice at all but it is definitely better than I expected, certainly one of the best “hybrid” beers I’ve ever had. I suspect that some fans of regular Firemans 4 will probably be turned off by this. I know not everybody is a hophead but they really don’t know what they’re missing. 

Central Market, a Whole Foods-like (but better) grocery store, part off the H.E.B. chain in Texas, has theme months where they often feature food and drink from other parts of the world. During the recent Brazil month I was able to pick up some interesting looking craft beers from Brazil. The only Brazilian beer I had tried up to this point was Xingu Black Beer, a black lager of sorts. The beers made by Cervejaria Colorado outwardly seem more “crafty” in the American sense of using unconventional ingredients. Cervejaria Colorado is up front about being influenced by American craft brewing but the “special” ingredients are definitely Brazilian. Vixnu Imperial IPA (named after the Hindu god) pours a deep amber color with a very foamy head. It took longer to go down than I expect with an IPA. The hoppiness is adequate for the style but could easily be higher and not ruin the balance. The 9.5 percent ABV does show itself in some lingering booziness, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing (though it’s not my favorite beer quality) if not for how this trait couples with the added rapadura sugar. Sweetness and alcohol burn together are not two things I care for in a beer. At first it’s not so bad but after a while it started to turn me off. But don’t get me wrong. This is not a bad beer. I just think they went a little overboard with the extra added flavors. I am glad to see craft beers being made in places other than North America though. It shows this “movement” is not just a flash in the pan. 

Nowhere on the can does Old Potentate (which has one of my favorite beer names in recent memory), from Conroe, TX-based Southern Star Brewing Co., actually says what kind of beer it is. I didn’t look it up before purchasing or drinking. So the contents were a surprise to me and thankfully a pleasant one. Southern Star’s website says this beer is an “British style Old Ale” but there are many characteristics it shares with stouts and even a few with brown ales. The beer pours a very deep, opaque brown-black with a fairly thick head that doesn’t linger. The body is heavy but not too heavy (more like a porter in some ways than a stout in this regard). The first flavor to hit the taste buds is the quite stout-like roasty malt flavor, coupled with a little smokiness. There’s also some caramel-like maltiness going on too. Mid-level nuttiness is present that recalls brown ales. I wouldn’t call this a hoppy beer but at 40 IBUs there’s enough to balance the dominant malt nicely and add a bit of a spicy bite. Old Potentate is just an all-around good beer with a lot of bold flavor. I noticed quite a bit of sediment in the bottom of the glass. While this isn’t unheard of in beer I do wonder if the fact that I’m drinking this beer a couple months out of its season (It’s a Winter seasonal) if that has something to do with it. At any rate though, there’s certainly no loss of flavor. 

I’ve had quite a few beers made by Saratoga Springs, NY’s Shmaltz Brewing Co.. They have several series of beer and though the ones under the Coney Island banner are some of their most creative, they, to me, aren’t the best when it comes to flavor and overall drinking experience. Albino Python, a spiced white lager, is not an exception. Granted, lagers aren’t my favorite beers to begin with. Most, even craft-brewed ones, tend to be watery and weak-flavored. Albino Python has many things going on but all seem stretched thin to keep with the light nature of lager. There’s a grass/grain taste going on up front followed by a lemon-like sour tang. At first I wasn’t able to tell what the spices were, just that this beer is definitely spiced. However, after a few sips ginger took over in a big way and now, halfway through the pint, that’s pretty much all I can taste. Albino Python is kind of like an alcoholic ginger ale, though with a subtler ginger flavor than most ginger sodas have. While I don’t love this beer, it’s far from offensive. It certainly doesn’t have that “off” quality some macro lagers do. I just feel like the end result isn’t as spectacular as what the label and description promise. But I will continue to try these Coney Island beers because, one, proceeds go to help preserve historic Coney Island and two, I’m always curious to try left-of-center beers. 

Ah, the black IPA. The new-ish trend, sparked by the beer-soaked pacific northwest. Some I’ve had have been fairly close to porters and some are basically standard IPAs, though slightly heavier and black-colored. Firestone Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA, made by Paso Robles, CA’s Firestone Walker Brewing Co., is closer to the later description. Upon taking a sip the first flavor that hits is an explosion of wonderfully bitter, citrusy hops with piney, resiny coating. The hoppiness definitely reflects the 80 IBUs this beer is. The rye is not overt but if you pay close attention it shows itself peripherally. There’s really no other way to describe the flavor of rye. It is what it is and those who are familiar with it will know. There could be more rye flavor though, considering that’s part of the beer’s name. This is a very dark beer in color, living up to the black IPA style. When I first tried this style it was a little jarring to taste so much hoppiness from such a Stygian-looking brew. But I’ve gotten used to that and in fact, Wookey Jack is one of the best black IPAs I’ve had in terms of just being a great beer. As far as how close it follows the developing black IPA standard, that’s up for debate. Ordinarilly, I would never sacrifice hoppiness for maltiness, especially in an IPA, but I’ve come to understand that one of the goals of a black IPA is that it’s supposed to combine the best elements of both IPAs and stouts/porters. So perhaps, if I were judging this beer specifically as a black IPA, I would say there should be some more roasty malt flavor. But as I said before, it’s a fantastic hoppy beer that tastes great no matter how you categorize it. And it has “wookey” in the name. Though spelled differently from Chewbacca’s species, that’s still cool. 

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about German beer. As far as imports go, I’m much more knowledgeable about beer from England, Ireland and Scotland. This is interesting because my first real beer drinking experience was in Germany (Berlin and Munich) when I was 18. Oddly enough, I don’t remember much about the beers I drank, though this is probably because I didn’t know anything about beer at the time. Then and now, I’m more experienced with lighter German beers like pilsners. In fact, I think German and German-style pilsners are the best of that type of beer in the world. I have not had very many darker German beers that I can recall. After getting married to my lovely wife earlier this month we took a mini-vacation to Fredericksburg. It’s a town in the beautiful Texas hill country that was originally settled and founded by German immigrants and that heritage is still alive and well today. We went to a German tavern, The Auslander, there a couple times, the type of place that looks sort of like a Disney version of old Bavaria minus any talking animals. It has pretty good food though and a good selection of German beer. I asked the waitress to recommend a darker German beer and she suggested Warsteiner Dunkel, saying it was “popular.” That word definitely doesn’t always mean the best but like I said, I don’t know much about German beer so I took her up on that suggestion. I do know the Warsteiner brand. It’s easy to find all over. I have had their Premium Verum. Their Dunkel proves to be very Shiner Bock like, which is I guess not too surprising, considering Shiner Bock is a German-style beer. Warsteiner Dunkel does have some characteristics though that make it a little more unique. There’s an interesting smoky taste lingering in the background. Otherwise, the beer shares the ever so slightly sweet, malty and lightly-hopped flavors with Shiner Bock. It is perhaps a bit darker but also shares Shiner Bock’s mid-level body as well. Warsteiner Dunkel isn’t a bad beer but I’m still not impressed enough to declare a great love for German beer…yet. But I am at least intrigued enough to keep trying Deutsche bier until I find one I really love, if that ever happens. 

Young’s Chocolate Stout has pretty much been the standard I judge every other chocolate stout I’ve had on. This one from the centuries old brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England definitely stands up next to its British cousin Young’s and in many ways exceeds it. The “organic” part in the name is key because this beer is bursting with fresh, all-natural flavor. First of all, the stout base is great. I would expect nothing less though from the land the style was invented in. It’s thick, creamy and has a nice, toasty, roasty, malty flavor. You need a good straight-up beer in the first place before adding any fancy flavors. The chocolate added is definitely of the dark variety, I’m guessing fairly pure cacao. There’s thankfully only a slight sweetness so the beer doesn’t end up tasting like a candy bar or anything. There also appears to be a very strong vanilla flavor as well that at times nearly overpowers the chocolate. I’m not sure though if that’s intentional or just how my taste buds reacted. But even so, the flavors are bold and complex but balanced. If you’re looking for something with more chocolate flavor than Young’s, yet still retains it’s stout-ness, I would definitely suggest Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout. 

My parents recently went on a trip to the Grand Canyon (in Arizona for those who don’t know) and they, being craft beer lovers like I am, brought me home a couple cans of Grand Canyon beer. It’s not actually brewed in the park but in Williams, a town close by. Black Iron India Pale Ale is a decent enough IPA but there’s nothing too distinctive about it. There’s nearly as much maltiness as there is hoppiness. The malts come out as doughy, slightly sweet and smooth. The hop flavor is mostly on the pine side of things but there’s a bit of citrus rind mixed in as well. But the hop bitterness is not pronounced enough to win the war against the malt. It’s barely enough to balance the flavors. I guess this beer is hoppy enough to be classified as an IPA but my high brand of hopheadedness prefers greater hop character. 

By and large, I’ve always thought that the “regular” pale ale, with few exceptions (Sierra Nevada is one), is just the India Pale Ale’s wimpy cousin. I had hoped Deep South Pale Ale by Kiln, Mississippi’s Lazy Magnolia Brewing Co. might be another exception but alas it is not. The first flavor that hit my taste buds upon taking a sip was a metallic one. This is not something you want your beer to taste like. I’m reminded of the iron flavor of blood. This doesn’t dissipate either and ends up mixing with a sour flavor to create one unholy palate. There’s some hop bitterness and citrus-ness lurking around the edges but it’s not powerful enough to penetrate the other flavors. This is kind of surprising because on the bottle it says the beer is dry-hopped so even though Deep South is not an IPA I would have expected some more hop-forward aromas at least. But at least the beer is crisp and not overly malty. The malt that is there actually kind of reminds me of a hefeweizen, a style of beer I can barely stand usually. This is the first beer I’ve had from Mississippi and while I don’t really like it I’d try Mississippi beer again for I’m always happy to support Southern craft brewing.