KLCC Homebrew Competition
Next weekend marks the 2010 KLCC Brewfest and Homebrew Competition in Eugene on the 12th and 13th. Wendie, myself, and a gang of friends will be there the evening of the 12th. I really like how they have it laid out with large aisles between the beer tables.. its one of my favorite fests of the year because of that.
Here’s a list of the beers I’ve got entered, and some thoughts that I’ve got prior to getting the feedback from judging. Once I get my results back, I’ll update the post with the aggregate of feedback for each beer and the scores they receive.
This year I’ve got 5 beers entered in competition;
Brew 76: Pale : Entered as an American Pale Ale. This one is using a fairly new hop called Citra, and it has some great peach or tangerine flavor. I think that it might miss a few points due to the lower level of bittering hops, at least that’s how I perceive it. I’m entering this mainly for suggestions on what else to try for a classic American Pale.
Brew 75: Dark Matter (Stout) : Entered as an American Stout. The roast character might be a little low for this style, otherwise I think it will score fairly well. (Placed 3rd in its category, the results were that it generally needed some more roast character)
Brew 74: Super Strong Scotch : Entered as a Strong Scotch Ale. This is still quite young for a 10% ABV beer, it has a huge malty character with all kinds of tasty complexity.. I’m guessing this is going to be the highest scoring of the beers I’m entering. (Honorable mention in its category, mostly due to being quite young and a little bit over carbonated.. very big and complex)
Brew 71: Fresh Hop Double Pale : Entered as an American Pale Ale, although mine is a bit higher on the alcohol level.. This one used a ton of fresh hops from Brehks garden, and I think it still shows the green hop flavors. The taste is quite smooth, I’m expecting the results to lose points due to a less than aggressive hop bitterness.
Brew 70: Triple Hopped Dark Ale : Entered as a Specialty Ale, there isn’t a category for this type of beer yet. It has a subtle toasted flavor hiding behind the huge hop flavor and aroma.. one of my favorite beers. I’m thinking it will score well, but may lose a few points to the fact that I had it in bottles with labels on them rather than clean unlabeled glass.
Speakeasy, Double Daddy
Speakeasy Brewery, San Francisco, CA
Double Daddy IPA (Imperial IPA) 9.5% ABV
Subtle aroma, floral with some citrus and sweet.. thin tight bubbled white head that falls fairly quick. Creamy medium mouthfeel, medium to high carbonation, slightly sweet caramel notes hiding behind hops. Slight herbal and subtle spicy hop flavor at the tail end, finishes dry with residual moderately harsh hop bitterness and warming alcohol on the breath.
Overall a great Imperial IPA, hides the alcohol really well and a nice combination of hop flavor and bitterness. This one goes down really nice and easy for such a potent beer! I rate this a 7 / 10, it’s a tasty Imperial IPA and a bit different hop profile than most.
Goose Island, Bourbon County Stout
Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL
Bourbon County Stout (Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout), 13% ABV.
Completely black, thin tan head that collapses immediately. Low
carbonation. Smells of alcohol, oak and hints of sweetness.
Super rich, thick syrup body and leaves my lips sticky. Big roasted,
dark chocolate and charcoal flavors, followed by lingering caramel and
vanilla on the breath. Lots of alcohol, but it isn’t too hot or
overpowering to me. From a 22oz bottle, this beer is a serious
commitment. Although the name is Bourbon County, it doesn’t really
strike me over the top bourbon flavors like some other beers I’ve had
do.
This beer would be perfect along side a thick rich chocolate cake,
gooey brownies, or even a bowl of vanilla ice cream.. that would just
about overload my palate in the best ways. I’d rate this one 8 / 10, although its not a beer I could drink a lot of very often.
Haiku, Belgian Beer, and Stinky Cheeses.. what a treat!
A few weeks back my wife sends me a TXT one morning saying “hey, you gotta enter that haiku contest at the brewshop!”. Ok, I thought that was a little out of the ordinary.. so I pull up Gmail and see a fresh newsletter from my friends down at Corvallis Brew Supply. Owner and beer guru, Joel Rea (aka Ol’ Lickspigot), mentions he’s got a spare bottle of the top rated, much loved Westvletern 12 that’s he’s going to sell to the winner of a haiku contest he’s holding. I’m a bit of a geek, and haiku is something I’ve toyed with, mangled, abused, and generally enjoyed over the years..clearly, it was time to bust out 17 syllables.
As Ol’ Lickspigot mentioned in his newsletter, this beer is not distributed outside of the Abbey..the monks brew the beer as one means for supporting themselves being monks. This is clearly one reason why this beer gets as much love as it does, is it just hype because its a beer that’s not available on the open market? I had no clue, but here’s my chance to get my hands on one (short of hunting it down on ebay or the like).
As I sit considering the inspiration of my poetry, I thought it was fitting to write something about the people who brewed the beer. A few minutes of word-in-at-ing and count-ing sev-en-teen syll-a-bles, I sent my entry;
monks brew beer for god
god can’t drink those badass brews
we drink beer for god
Votes are cast, a week or so passes, and I see a final email from Ol’Lickspigot and it turns out that my haiku had won the contest.. Because he can’t give alcohol as a prize (some law breakage or something?!) I’ve won the right to purchase the beer. What a kickass Friday! I finish up my day at work and head to the brewshop to make a purchase! Fridays are also a great day to pick up some quality beer as Corvallis Brew Supply offers 15% off of a 6 pack.
I’m standing in front of shelves full of kickass beer, drooling and mumbling to myself, and up walks Drew. Drew is one of the CBS beer geniuses, ready and willing to offer thoughts and recommendations on the beer for sale at the shop. We chat a little bit about the haiku contest, some congratulations were offered, and we discuss possibilities on why the Westvleteren 12 is rated the #1 beer in the world. And as obvious as it sounds, it hadn’t occurred to me that I should be buying the other two Belgian Quadrupels that are available at the shop, until Drew mentioned it. Its a perfect time to taste three of the five Trappist Monk brewed Belgian Quadrupel Ales and compare the qualities of each.
Mr. Lickspigot is free’d up after helping a customer, and moments later he returns from the basement of CBS wielding the bottle of beer as if it was a gift from god.. and in some ways, I guess you could consider it so! Again we discuss and compare beers which are thought to be equivalently as good in their own style categories. Beer is so subjective, and many share varying shades of kickassness.. this is one aspect I love about craft beer. I grab another 3 or 4 bottles to fill out my 6 pack, whip out the debit card and I’m soon the proud owner of the top rated beer on earth.. at $20 for a 12oz bottle of beer, I’m sporting a cheeky grin and ready to get my drink on.
In all of his beer drinking wisdom, Drew catches me before I wander out of the shop with what turns out to be a second epic suggestion.. stinky cheese! This is shaping up to be a kick ass session! I’m a big fan of Blue Cheese, I’ll put that on just about any type of food.. its so flavorful, I can’t help it. Drew points me to the First Alternative Co-op to get Roaring 40’s Blue cheese and Tete de Moine cheeses.. both are stinky and packed with character. To hedge my bets, I ask the lady at the Co-op for a third cheese that’s a bit more approachable just in case Wendie (and I) can’t handle one of the others. I’m recommended a P’tit Basque cheese, some crackers, and I’m on my way.
As Sunday night rolls around, Wendie and I pull out the cheese and beer to let them warm up a bit before we start our tasting. I poured our Belgian beers, and between tasting each of them we would clear our palate with these crazy cheeses. I didn’t take notes of the cheeses, but here’s what I recall;
Roaring 40’s Blue: An Australian pasteurized cows milk blue cheese. Lots of character, definitely a potent blue cheese.. definitely a cheese that I would buy again.
Tete de Moine: A Swiss cheese originally made 800 years ago by monks in Switzerland. This is dank and funky, easily the most remarkable cheese I’ve ever tried.. It had “earthy” qualities, some sort of rotten notes and stinky wet dog to say the least. Very strange.. and at the same time, really damn good. I’d definitely buy it again, and you wouldn’t need more than an ounce or two.
P’Tit Basque : French raw sheeps milk, it was creamy and kind of sweet.. a very tasty cheese for sure. You could easily eat a lot of this stuff.
As it turns out, I absolutely agree that Westvleteren 12 was the best of the three Belgian Quadrupels that we tried that night. Here are the notes, in order of which I thought was best;
Westvleteren 12 (10.2% ABV, rated #1 on Beer Advocate): Pours a dark brown with red highlights, opaque, with little to no head. While it was cold, it had big warming alcohol, little fruit / prune / fig and some caramel sweetness aromas that seemed fairly subtle. Low carbonation, dark fruit notes noticed first on the palate. As it warms up, it was tasting really good. Sweetness up front with honey or maybe brown sugar sort of qualities. As I was breathing out through my nose after each drink I would taste notes reminiscent of cherries! This is a beer that you definitely want to enjoy near room temperature, it was noticeably much more complex.
Rochefort 10 (11.3% ABV, Rated #16 on Beer Advocate) : Pours dark brown and murky and tons of rocky yeast in the bottom of the glass with really thin and soft head that didn’t stick around much. Medium high carbonation, bread crusty and grainy flavors with a little bit of pruney notes while it was cold, even more subtle than the Westvleteren. As it warmed up, the sweetness and caramel aromas were really noticable, warm alcohol on the nose.
St. Bernardus Abt 12 (10.5% ABV, rated #23 on Beer Advocate): Pours with the same dark brown and murky as the Rochefort but without the rocky yeast on the bottom. Silky smooth body, with big puffy white head that sticks around forever. Finished more dry than others, and seemed to have more bread and yeasty character along with dark fruits while it was cold. As it warmed up it seemed to turn toward floral and sweet flavors along with prune and raisin at the finish. Definitely enjoyable to drink!
