Well, we’re in a bit of a holding pattern here at Beer, Wine and Whisky. It seems the medication I’m taking as a result of my recent health incident is seriously monkeying with my sense of taste. The good news is that things seem to be returning to normal as the doctors reduce the amount of medication I’m on, but for a week or so, I’ve been completely without a sense of taste.
That being said, I’ve still been drinking, and I’ve had several things that were lovely to smell, and likely would have been lovely to taste, had I been so endowed at the time. Top of the list was a 1996 Dom. Druet Bourgueil Cuvee Beauvais, which was a lovely, mature Cabernet Franc. The Beauvais is one of Druet’s lower-level bottlings, but in a ripe vintage like 1996, it had plenty of stuffing to age beautifully for a decade. Lots of raspberries on the nose, with a hearty dose of green herbs. Tannins were fully resolved and it had a lovely, satiny mouthfeel. Very good stuff and I’m glad to have some more in the cellar (which I thriftily picked up at auction for $10 per about 5 years ago).
Beer has also been going down the gullet at a decent pace. We had a nice tasting at Carl’s house last Saturday. The stars of the show were two bottlings from the Craft Brewer’s Conference in 2002 and 2004. Each year, brewers in/around the host city come up with a special beer for the conference. The 2002 was a joint effort of Tomme Arthur, Peter Zein, and Lee Chase (then of Stone Brewing). It was a pale Belgian brewed with lemongrass, and had held up very well in the cellar. Really nice spiciness from the yeast, without being overwhelmed, and fresh cut from the citrusy lemongrass. The 2004 was a completely different approach – a blend of seven regular releases from seven different brewers – mostly stouts (including Victory’s Storm King), and one IPA. While this could have been a real trainwreck, it was actually really, really good.
Another standout for me was a new beer from a new brewery. My father-in-law picked it up for me at a wineshop that just opened near his apartment in Chicago, and brought it to accompany the Thanksgiving I missed. It was the L’Amalthee from Brasserie Lebbe, which is located, in all places in the Hautes-Pyranees department of France – not exactly a brewing hot bed. The beer had a great raw grainy nose, and a wonderful polished quality from its brief period of lagering. This would be a great food beer. After reading about the brewery (something I didn’t do until after we’d tasted it), I like the beer even more. Charles Neal is an outstanding wine importer, and I’m very pleased to see him bring in such a quality beer.
Finally, Carl was kind enough to open a bottle of Russian River’s Biere de Garde, Perdition. This was simply a gorgeous beer. Lots of depth to the malt, and a wonderfully complex grainy, spicy aroma. Wonderful stuff.
Lowlights of the tasting were two of Bell’s Batch series. My next to last Batch 6000 is starting to show some unpleasant oxidation notes. This one has been a fun ride though – always drinkable, and genuinely evolving in the cellar over the years. The last one will definitely be drunk up this winter though. One of Zac’s Batch 7000s showed me that I was smart to trade my stash away to someone who enjoyed them. It’s still a monstrous beer, with a whole lot of hop bitterness, but its malt load is starting to show notes of soy sauce, which is an absolute non-starter for me. Blargh.
Lots of other good beers were opened, but most of all it was nice to be with friends.
