Monthly Archives: February 2011

Searching for Pliny- Finding an Angel

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These last couple weeks I feel like I’ve exhausted my thumbs texting friends about beer. That isn’t to say I normally don’t have extensive beer conversations over text message, just not this many. You see, last week something very special happened in California: Pliny the Younger was released.

You may have heard of Pliny the Elder, a hugely popular Double IPA from Russian River Brewing, bottled and brewed year-round so that whenever you feel like a solid favorite, it is always around somewhere. However, the Elder’s younger nephew is quite a bit more elusive. Only released once a year, Pliny the Younger is eagerly awaited by those in the know, and swarmed upon like a liquefied Justin Bieber in a 12-year old girl’s birthday punchbowl. Really. Some bars get just one keg of Younger, which disappears in an hour or so.

In fact, Younger is so popular, most bars have a two beer limit, and only serve them in 10-ounce glasses. They do this partially because it is so popular, and partially because it quickly shoots down gullets at 11% ABV (of course, they also do it to rake in the dough).

So there I was, calling bars and texting friends for a week, trying to find what day what bar was getting the Younger, so I could show up, drink two, and move on to the next place for two more. Pliny the Younger is deceptively clear, crisp, and light for a beer at 11%. The nose is slightly floral, doesn’t carry much hop bomb to warn against such a wonderful, hoppy taste. The alcohol content is perfectly masked by the balanced bitterness, and you find yourself  in that warm buzz of complete contentedness. It truly is a standard-bearer for Triple IPAs.

During last week’s search and seizure of Pliny the Younger, I also came across some other excellent beers. At Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley, their seasonal is the Outburst IPA, which to tell you the truth, tastes a lot like the Younger. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but the nice medium color and freshness from such a hoppy beer was pleasing in all the same ways. Like the Younger, there is something to be said for multiple dry hopping in this Imperial IPA. I’ve also been drinking Brown Shugga, by Lagunitas Brewing, at home- and at 9.99%, it is something you need to grab before it disappears, which it will soon. Take a virtual taste here, and then maybe you can decide what style Shugga belongs to.

But amazingly, the best beer I’ve had in the last couple weeks wasn’t the Younger. At The Bistro, in my hometown of Hayward, California, and friend introduced me to an angel. There was one bottle of Lost Abbey’s Angel’s Share left Thursday after work, and my buddy Dan put it in front of me and told me it was a beer I needed to try.

Try I did.

The Angel’s Share doesn’t simply have chocolate notes, or cocoa. It has an all-out fudge flavor balanced so well with the rest of the beer, it is like drinking a bitter slice of heaven- if the clouds in heaven are 12.5% alcohol. Aged for a year in bourbon or brandy barrels, this Strong Ale drips with dark caramel malt that emphasizes flavors of vanilla and oak. I had tried Lost Abbey’s Avante Garde before, but did not know they were so versatile a label. In fact, Lost Abbey is Port Brewing’s Belgian-style Label, whereas the Pizza Port beers are reserved for their California recipes. As if I couldn’t be a bigger fan of Port Brewing, the Angel’s Share absolutely blew me away. Miraculously, we talked the bartender into looking one more time to see if there were any left, and sure enough, he found one more 750 ml bottle. We drank it greedily, not even noticing they were getting ready to tap a new keg of Pliny the Younger. It was as if we were touched by, well…really good beer.

Beer! In! Space!

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Talk about a niche product. 4 Pines Brewing Company in Australia has developed the first beer designed to be consumed in space.

What does that mean?

More flavor. Less carbonation.

In space your whole entire face, including your tongue, swells,” says [brewer] Jaron [Mitchell]. “It becomes a lot harder to taste things in space.”

“With all the swelling all of your taste buds become almost a bit numb, in a way,” he says.

Also, without gravity, gas doesn’t necessarily rise above liquid. That can make belching…messy.

No orders from NASA (apparently) but some of Sir Richard Branson’s tourists might like a brew.

774 ABC Melbourne: First batch of astro-beer brewed and ready for testing

(via Boing Boing)

Drake’s First Fridays

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Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we’re pretty spoiled as it is. We have more breweries than we know what to do with. Not to mention we hear the rest of the country is cold right now—here it’s been upper 60s all week. But lets forget about the weather and focus on what’s important—the beer.

Just south of Oakland, San Leandro, California has a sweet brewery named Drake’s. They’ve been around for years, but unfortunately it is not open to the public. They brew their beer, bottle it, keg it, and send it out to be drained just as quickly. However, on the first Friday of every month, something special happens—they open their enormous doors and invite the public in for a look—and a taste.

Aside from the great beer poured by nice people, a $5 donation at the gates usually raises money for a local school. For $15, you get a Drake’s pint glass and three tokens, which are good for—you guessed it—three beers. You then buy tokens separately for $3.50.

Then there’s the beer. Oh, goodness, the beer.

I recently posted an article on Hop Talk about a Tasting of Holiday Beers XXII at Pacific Coast Brewery in Old Oakland. The winner of the event? Drake’s Jolly Roger (which I predicted by the way. Yes, I drink a lot of beer).

Not only has the Jolly Roger been hitting us hard with its Imperial Redness, Drake’s brews many hard-hitting selections which usually forces one to forgo purchasing those extra tokens after the three you get with the glass. I’ve gone to this event for the last two months, and amazingly, I still remember all the beers I ordered.

On the first Friday of December, I started with their Drakonic Imperial Stout, which I found to be brewed so smoothly, it could have fooled me into thinking it was a regular stout brewed around 5%—yet there was that kick lurking just below the surface, which of course meant it was almost 8.75% ABV. I followed it with a Jolly Roger 8%, which I’ve already praised, but have to reiterate the great hop nose. It is a well-balanced beer in every way. Then I had a Denogginizer—a favorite of a colleague of mine—hoppy hands down at 100 IBUs and 10%. No, I did not drive home.

A month later, I started with the Robosto Porter, coming in at 7%, it reminded me of Speakeasy’s Payback Porter, which is a high compliment from me. I followed that with Hop Salad, which you can chalk up to another awesomely named beer—drinking Hop Salad is like typing the word brewery—it just feels right. And I’m pretty sure I ended on their very popular 1500 Pale Ale.

Last time I checked, this Friday will be the first Friday of February. I guess the question now is: Can I make it three months in a row?*

(author’s note: Yes I did.)