Tag Archives: Czechvar

Last Saturday I hosted a brewday and beer tasting for my church.  The brewday was fine (a very hoppy APAish beer with my new love – a 2:1:1 hop combo of Citra/Centennial/Columbus as finishing and dry hops), but the tasting went really well.  Beer experience of the tasters varied so I eschewed discussion of style and instead created four flights as follows:

Malty:  Capital Brewery Supper Club; Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat (hate the name, but it’s quite good); Goose Island Night Stalker

Hoppy: Budvar; Odell St. Lupulin; Southern Tier 2XIPA

Homebrew (wouldn’t normally subject people to these, but they asked): IPA; Kölsch; Batch 3 (a very hoppy, session strength thing with 1/3 unmalted wheat)

Sour: Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere (about a year in the cellar); New Glarus Belgian Red (about 3 years in the cellar); 2006 New Belgium La Folie

The Aftermath

The idea of the first two flights was to explore differing intensities and expressions of the core flavor and aroma components of beer.  The hop flight, in particular, was designed to showcase the aroma and flavor of hops, rather than their bitterness.  The sour flight was designed simply to show the tasters that these beers existed, and to walk them through the intensity level (the ’06 La Folie is incredibly sour at this point – more than young Cantillon to my palate).  It was great to see people really get the idea of the tasting.  As a companion, I prepared a sheet of other beers similar to those tasted so if a taster liked, say Night Stalker, they’d have a handy of list of other options available in the local market to try.

Not surprisingly, Supper Club was a big hit with everyone.  It’s just such a terrific example of what classic “American beer” can be.  Many people couldn’t get past the name of Buffalo Sweat (heads-up Tallgrass!), despite it being a really lovely rich, malty session stout. The Night Stalker definitely impressed, but folks questioned the ability to finish a bottle, even when shared with someone else.

People had a bit more difficulty with the hoppy flight, where flavors stepped a bit more out of the norm.  Surprising to me, the most universally popular was the 2XIPA which, is a very nice Double IPA, but still packs a much more intense hop load than the others in the flight (it was bottled only a week prior to the tasting).  People appreciated its excellent malt/hop balance (relatively speaking), and guzzled it with gusto.  Lots dug the St. Lupulin too, a beer for which I have great admiration, having put my money where my mouth is and purchased over two cases of it this Summer.  I was not expecting the Budvar to be the most polarizing, but it was.  This was relatively fresh, and well cared for (The Wine & Cheese Place keeps it cold in a cooler with no lights on), and the combination of substantial spicy/grassy Saaz over a relatively light body was too much hop for some.  Others adored it, of course, but I was not expecting the negative reactions.

The biggest surprise was the sour flight.  I believe it was wise for me to preface this flight with the caveat that these should not be approached as “beer” but as their own thing.  Most got this, and the Bam Biere was a huge hit – perhaps the tasters’ favorite of the whole tasting.  This one had been cellared for about a year, though the batch is still available on local shelves too – so you can buy it “pre-cellared.”  Do open it over the sink as it’s a gusher at this point.  It is a spine-shiveringly complex beer at this stage.

The Belgian Red had its adherents too, but the most critical remarks were not over the sourness (which at three years, is gorgeously well-balanced), but rather the Ludens-like character of the cherry.  Knowing that New Glarus uses a ton of top-quality fresh cherries, I’m at a loss to explain the aroma though I must admit that it doesn’t bother me.  Though the fact that I frequently selected boxes of Luden’s Wild Cherry cough drops when given my choice of “candy” may explain that.

Finally, the La Folie was more a pleasure to smell than to taste.  Undoubtedly complex, the sour character is just too much for all but a couple of tasters, who are limited to just a single pour by the intensity.  I am in agreement with them that it is a world class combo of aroma and taste, but one that I can’t manage more than a glass of without reaching for the Tums.

Paul Tasting La Folie for the 1st time

Paul agrees that La Folie is sour!

Overall, it was a great day, and I expect that St. Louis has got a few more drinkers who are going to be reaching out into a wider circle of craft beer choices.  Mission accomplished.

Lots of people said my homebrews were excellent, but I personally think they were half-loaded on Night Stalker and 2XIPA.  Honestly, I love my #3 – got just what I wanted with that one – light, 4.5% and hoppy as hell, and the Kölsch that I brewed for a friend’s birthday was really tasty and to style (used some of the Kölsch malt from Northern Brewer and lagered it for six weeks).