The Lost Abbey, Red Poppy Ale

Sorry for the hiatus last week.  Things are getting pretty busy as we prepare for our trip to China and I don't have my usual pipeline of blog entries already written.  But since we had a week off I'm writing about a real gem this week, Lost Abbey's Red Poppy.  For those that live in Southern California, Lost Abbey is a familiar name.  Led by their virtuoso brewer, Tomme Arthur, Lost Abbey is owned by the same folks as Pizza Port, but takes a decidedly different direction with their brewing, favoring creative takes on styles like Biere de Gardes, American Wild Ales, American Imperial Stouts, Saisons, and many, many others.  For the most part though, these aren't session beers, they're high abv, single bottle masterpieces, handcrafted with extreme attention to detail.  I was lucky enough to find a bottle of their Oud Bruin, the Red Poppy, and snatched it up right away.  But before I put this liquid gold in a glass, let's talk about the style. 

Recently, I've introduced quite a few friends to the novel concept that beers can not only be bitter and/or sweet, but also sour.  Usually, the discovery comes with disgust or amazement and some sort of statement like, "it tastes like vinegar!" Love it or hate it, the sour beer is definitely an unusual flavor.  While they've existed for centuries in Europe, it's only in the past 10 years that American Craftbrewers have started to embrace this eccentricity in their beers.  This souring flavor is caused by wild yeast strains such as Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, Acetobacteria, and the infamous Brettanomyces or "brett," which all leave powerful acidic notes behind when used in brewing.  American beer drinkers are slowly starting to warm up to beer that has horse-blanketesque funk, and red vinegar tannons.  The difficult part of describing these beers to new comers though, is when they say, "what's that sour beer called again?" The sour isn't a style in itself, really it's a flavor you could add to any beer, but there are a few different styles where sourness should be expected if not embraced.  Roughly speaking, those styles are the Berliner-Weisse, Oud Bruin, Flanders Red, Lambic, Gueuze, and American Wild Ales.  I'll try to make a point of writing a review about each one of these styles so you have some concrete examples, but for today I'm drinking an Oud Bruin. 

The Oud Bruin, literally translates as "old brown," due to the aging process they go through, which can be up to a year, but they are also known as Sour Browns or the Flanders Brown. The style originates in the Flemmish area of Belgium known as Flanders.  Over time, the sour beers of Flanders have been divided into two closely related, yet distinct cousins, and it's really impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other.  The Flanders Red is a light bodied ale brewed more towards West Flanders, and is aged for over a year, often in oak barrels.  Blending and aging lends some earthier flavors that help to balance the sharp acidity.  But don't get me wrong, these beers are still extremely sour.  The Rodenbach Brewery in Roeselare embodies the style.  The East Flanders version is the aforementioned the Oud Bruin.  While this ale maintains a similar red color, it has hints of brownish hues that bring its body much closer to medium.  While they age often up to a year, they do not necessarily rely on oak barrels, and the browns are often described as having a "sweet and sour," flavor due to their mixture of acidity and sweet fruit flavors. 

This particular brown is actually aged in oak and brewed with cherries.  After popping the stubborn cork on this one, I'm met with very foamy dark brown beer.  This brown is so dark I can only see the slightest hue of muddy red coming through when I hold it to the light.  I can already smell the acidic aroma, with a slight hint of cherries and a backbone of plums.  

Drinking this beer is an absolute pleasure.  Not only does its flavor match its aroma note for note, but it builds upon it with the back end, which brings on the brett, in othewords, barnyard funk.  I know that a horse blanket doesn't sound mouthwatering, and if you were to distill it and drink it on its own, it probably would be awful. But mixed with the tart front end it makes for a wonderful contrast, introducing a rougher mouthfeel and spiciness.  There's just the slightest hint of vanila and cinammon.  The flavor isn't for everyone, but if you're interested in trying to learn about sour beers, the Oud Bruin should be at the top of your list and this beer on the top of that one.  I got mine at the Wine House on Cotner, but Beverage Warehouse and Bevmo may also have it in stock.

Red Poppy Ale: *****

Price paid: $14.99

Deschutes Jubel 2010

I originally bought this beer around a year and half ago and based on the "best after" suggestion on the label: 1/29/11, decided to age not one, but a few of them.  After months of continuously pulling it out of my cellar only to remember the best after date and putting it back, I'm finally ready to open my first bottle of it. 

Jubel 2010 is classified as an American Strong Ale and for those not familiar with the style, I'll define it a bit.  An American Strong Ale isn't really a style per say, but a category encompassing very strong and generally dark beers, usually over 7.5%, but vague enough in nature to fall under any distinct style of beer.  As such, BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) does not recognize American Strongs. You may find that some have similar qualities to Barleywines, Scotch Ales, and Old Ales, meaning big heavy bodies with strong malt flavors, but distinctly hopped with American style aroma hops, which gives the category it's name.  It's not uncommon for them to be barrel aged as well.  Since they can really run the gamut and are difficult to nail down, you can often drink one without even knowing.  In fact, I'm guessing most of you in Southern California have sipped quite a few Stone Arrogant Bastards without ever realizing that it's a Strong Ale.  

The story behind this Strong Ale from Deschutes is an interesting one.  20 years ago or so, someone tried to steal a keg of their winter seasonal, Jubelale, but wasn't smart enough to realize that full kegs are heavy, and carrying them in the snow isn't fun.  They found the keg burried in the snow, half frozen, and found that having frozen all the water off left for a super rich beer, a "Jubelale on steroids," as they called it.  In tribute to this beer, they tried to recreate it in 2000, aging the beer in Oregon Pinot Noir barrels and again in 2010, giving the beer it's "Once a Decade," moniker.  

It pours a deep brown embedded with red hues.  Not much head here, but the retention is decent  Aromas of bright berries, very much like a barleywine with maybe the slightest hint of cocoa lying underneath.  Not nearly as hoppy as I was expecting.  The flavors are barleywine like in the malts, sweet raisins and brown sugar.  The back end ripples with a subtle combo of cocoa and hops, just enough bitter and sweet to leave you with a wonderful aftertaste.  The body isn't as full as maybe you'd expect from such a dark beer.  The presence of the heavy 10% alcohol is detectable, but not overwhelming and the beer maintains a fine line of drinkability.

The beer actually drinks much more like a red wine than a beer and there's just a hint of that pinot noir flavor.  It reminds me a bit of a cross between Palo Santo and a barleywine, however, the flavors aren't nearly as ambitioius in their complexity.  That's not to suggest they're bad, far from it.  There is a starkness to the amount of flavors your palate detects in this beer that makes me think about the simplicity of beer itself.  This strong ale succeeds by saying, "less is more,"and focusing all of its efforts on cultivating the richness of each of its flavors, few in number though they may be.  I have to admit, as I'm getting deeper into this it's becoming a bit more boozy, but not at all taking away from the overall drinking experience.  You may want to be here next time I open one of my other 3 bottles, because until 2020, they're going to be hard to find.

Jubel 2010: ****

Steingarten LA

Looking for a new place to grab a brew on the Westside?  I always am, and quite frankly the selection is limited.  Oh don't get me wrong, I love me some Library Alehouse and Father's Office, but neither place is really great for watching a game, and we're right in the middle of NBA playoffs.  The beer curve drops off considerably after those two.  After a few bad experiences at Broadway Alehouse and West 4th and Jane, I think they're off my list, which means the nearest bar that serves craft is Tony's in the Marina.

So it was with that dilemma that I decided to venture a little farther west to the latest addition in LA's ever growing beer scene: Steingarten LA.  I was able to swing by a couple of weeks ago for a Lakers Blazers game to see what they're up to.  The German sounding beer bar keeps a fairly low profile, stashed away on the border of West Los Angeles and Culver City and is really more of a Belgian bar than the name might suggest.

Walking into the bar it was much bigger than I expected and what they lack in signage or website – it's a rather nondescript area on Pico – they certainly make up for with a gigantic space.

On the far side of the restaurant are some great long German Beer Hall style tables.  In addition to the roomy interior and high ceilings, there's a large retractable skylight above the tables that gives the bar a natural light feel that you can't beat.  Ahh, no more wasting the days away drinking in the dark.  You can see by the pictures, that decor is actually quite nice, they've obviously spent some money on the layout and decorating the place.  I especially liked the non-desrcript taps.

There's also a small outdoor area with heat lamps.

Guided under the tutelage of Dave Watrous, who has worked with Broadway Alehouse, the Woodshop Series, and Tony's, the beer selection is excellent.  There are 20 taps, all of which rotate.  The night we were there, some of the highlights were New Belgium's La Terroir, Firestone's Double Jack, Brasserie Dieu de Ciel's Rosee d'Hibiscus, Lost Abbey's Serpent's Stout, Port's Mongo, and many more; American, Belgian, German, Czech, and ahhh... what the hell, British brewing too, all represented here.

Looking elsewhere off their menu of broad and diverse selection of rotating taps, Dave really loves bottle conditioned beers, so their bottle collection has a number of excellent selections.  Here are some highlights, Russian River's Pliny the Elder and Supplication (which we could not resist ordering a bottle of), Mikkeller Rausch Geek Breakfast, Firestone Abacus, Cantillon de Rose Gambrinus and others.

In addition to their extensive beer collection, kept properly stored at appropriate temperatures in their beer cellar and fridge, they are doing mixed drinks.  I'm not as knowledgeable about mixed drinks, but I am a fan.  The charge is being led by Luke Wederbrook who is to spirits what Dave is to beer. Bartenders were mixing up some impressive concoctions, handing out samples, and the bar was littered with some of the most exotic bitters I've ever seen.  On one of my subsequent visits I definitely plan on trying a special hopped up whiskey that I saw on the menu.

They've got a few brand new LCD TVs, which were perfect for sitting at the bar and watching the game.  I wore the appropriate attire:

We weren't exceptionally hungry so we ordered a pretzel and a deer salami sandwich.  The pretzel was pretty good, very soft, served hot with a sweet mustard.  It could have used some big salt flakes, but otherwise we enjoyed it.

The deer salami sandwich was a little harder to pick out from their exotic list of game meat sausages and sandwiches, but we ordered it upon recommendation.  The salami itself was very good, however, the rest of the toppings didn't live up to the salami and overall it was sort of dry.  They're highlighting their sausages though, so next time I plan on trying some of those.

The place was sparsely crowded when we got there at around 7pm, but really hopping when we left around 10pm.  The crowd was a mix of co-workers, groups of friends, and a few dates, mostly in the late 20s to mid 30s range.  On the night, I drank a Double Jack, Serpent's Stout, and finished with one of my favorite Wild Ale's, Supplication.  Megan had a La Terroir, Rosee d'Hibiscus, and split the Supplication with me.

Otherwise it was a great time and the Blazers even won, which was a nice button on the night. I'm actually glad it didn't turn out to be a traditional German Beer Hall.  While I enjoy said places of Bavarian inebriation, I can't help but feel that with the westside Wurstkutche opening in the old Air Conditioning building this summer, we're reaching our tipping point in LA. Steingarten offers its own take on something between European bar and an American Gastropub that gives it a bit of distinct character.  With excellent taps and room to stretch your legs it's a great place to get a beer that I'll be adding to my short Westside list.  Dave has really made sure that the servers all have at least a rudimentary knowledge in beer, which means they can answer your questions and have taken the time to serve your beer properly.  Best of all, Dave has a wealth of beer knowledge he can share with you.  I'll be interested to see how the mixology goes for them. When I was there, it was a about 60/40 beer to mixed drinks and Dave said they're hoping to incorporate some cocktails with beer in them.  Be sure to check it out!

Steingarten LA is located at 10543 W Pico Blvd in West Los Angeles.

Victory Baltic Thunder

The Baltic Porter is an interesting style that you don't see too many of in your daily beer travels.  Despite what the name suggests, the style originated in 18th Century England, but was named Baltic because they were mostly made for export to Russia.  Countries along the Baltic coast such as Poland, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, and others enjoyed the beer so much that they took up their own production of it.  That's why most Baltic Porters you'll find are from those regions or from American Craft Breweries who are interested in the style. 

The interesting thing about this style though is that despite the porter name, it's actually a lager.  The style should ideally have roasted malt flavors and aromas with a smooth mouthfeel.  You might have a little bit of hop flavor depending on the brew, but ideally it should take a back seat in a major way to the heavy toasted malts. 

The Victory version of this beer is a tribute to the Baltic God of Thunder and has a fair amount of head with a thin roasted chocolate aroma.  The color is a very nice ruby brown.  My first sip is immensely complex with loads of roasted grain flavor. 

There's a lot of chocolate mixed with toasted grains laced with the most ever so slight hints of coffee.  The alcohol content is on the higher side at 8.5%, but the beer remains immensely drinkable with a smooth mouthfeel conjuring flavors of cherries and dates supporting the bold toasted grains.  There's just the slightest hint of a chalky mouthfeel towards the end of the sip that keeps this beer from being a five-star, but any flaws in the brew certainly wouldn't be due to flavor.

Because it's a lager it maintains a light body despite its bold flavors.  This one is real pleasure to drink.  Ideally, this would be great to pair with heavy barbeque, but tonight I'm just having some roast chicken.  I'm curious if it could also hold up to some chocolate desserts?  The malts are just rich and sweet enough that I think they might.

I picked up my bottle at the liquor store on Pico just east of 20th St in Santa Monica, but chances are BevMo or Beverage Warehouse will have this one.  Definitely call to check first.

Baltic Thunder: ****

Estrella Damm Inedit

You don't often hear about beers from Spain.  Spain, along with much of Southern Europe is far better known for its winemaking than its beer drinking.  Historically, this stems from the Mediterranean region's warmer climates, which were more ideal for growing grapes than hops.  However, we're starting to see some more experimental and hand craftd beers coming out of places like Italy and Spain, and we owe the historic winemaking countries at least the decency of drinking their beer. 

The Witbier, or White Ale as it's also known, is a wheat beer with a cloudy appearance that first appeared around the eleventh century.  Wit means white, which comes from the color and cloudy appearance of the beer.  It was one of the first beer styles brewed with hops although ironically today most versions let hops take a back seat to flavors like orange and coriander.  The style has enjoyed immense success in many countries and with multiple variations.  There are different variations of light and dark witbiers, but most often you'll find them on the paler side like this one.  In that case, what you're looking for is notes of orange and corriander with a creamy texture and maybe a slightly acidic finish. 

Having poured Senor Estrella here, I see it has a pale straw appearance with just a hint of cloudiness.  Head retention is fairly decent, although I'm not seeing a lot of lacing at the moment.  A lot of orange in the aroma mixed with some other spices, sort of a freshness to it.  There's a slight funk going on here where it should be floral, hard to tell what it is; nothing as strong as a lambic, but there's something a little out of character.  Not much carbonation, which would help to make it a bit creamier, however, otherwise the body is alright..

Tonight I'm pairing this with some Thai food from Bangkok West, which is all wrong, but obviously I didn't have time to plan this one out.  Ideal pairings would be something lighter that won't overpower the light body and flavors of this beer; think seafood like mussels and salmon, or chicken and game hen in the bird world.

While the flavors are all in the right place, there's something missing that should be bridging them a little better.  The orange, while very strong, finishes a little watery letting the hop acids strike where there should be more a little more body and richness of flavor.  This means the bitterness is abandoned a little bit naked and cold in the wind and what you're left with is a weak citrus flavor.  Overall, this beer just doesn't pack enough of a punch to really leave a mark. However, if you're still interested in trying it I've seen it popping up all over town.  You can find it's fancy starred bottle at Umami Burger, West 4th and Jane, BevMo, The Bazaar on La Cienaga, Santino's Tapas Wine bar on Lincoln, and the liquor store at Ocean Park and 28th.

Estrella Damm Inedit: **

Back to School!

This weekend I finally got a chance to check out Public School 612 in Downtown LA.  Since LA is a big city and it's often hard to get around to different neighborhoods, I thought I'd share some pictures and experiences with you.  Add this to your list of places to drink craft beer in Downtown.

In case you haven't heard about PS612, I suggest you read my earlier post about the concept bar from last month.  The bar opened in early March and has been pretty packed since it opened.  I went with a few friends on a quiet Sunday to sample some of the food and brews.

The ethos behind this gastropub, which shares an entrance and kitchen with the Daily Grill on 6th and Flower, is that they're giving you an education in food and beer; trying to elevate the experience and taste-buds of their customers.  Hence the back to school theme.

The place looks really amazing and has the advantage of being completely new and remodeled.  The money they put into making it feel like a singular place really shows: soft lighting, hardwood tables, and paisley wall paper.  The bar is wide and is beautifully presented and best of all they've installed 2 dart boards in the back adding themselves to the short list of bars that serve good beer and have games.  The crowd seemed like late 20s to late 30s and a mix of co-workers taking some time to blow off steam, a group of friends sharing a drink, and a double date or two.  We were there pretty early on Sunday so it wasn't too crowded and the place felt very spacious, but it isn't hard to imagine it bustling with a late night crowd.

On to the beer...  Sad to say they lost their impressive Peachy Folder menus that were presented to me at the concept dinner.  They've been replaced by the old composition books with the black and white fronts.  Not a bad substitute, but the Peachys would have been awesome.  They're sporting about 20 taps with about one representation from every major style.  I asked about rotations and the bartender said they're working on that.  For now they have the resident taps listed below.  These aren't super geek out rare beers, but they're standards and classics in each style and they far surpass what you'll find in the sports bars down the street.  Beers like Racer 5, Black Butte Porter, Allagash White, Arrogant Bastard, 1903, Rasputin are all excellent gateway brews for beer geek novices to explore different styles and expand their knowledge of breweries.  While I stuck to draughts this time, I was very interested to see that they had Orval, Curieux, Telegraph's Stock Porter, and Wipeout IPA in bottles.... next time.

 A cheers to kick off the afternoon.  I started with the Echt Kriekenbier, I was very happy to see it come in the proper glassware, looks like Hallie trained the staff pretty well.

You order at the bar and they bring out to you at your table, so it's a perfect place for ordering a bunch of small dishes and taking your time with them.  First course was the Huevos al Diablor, or deviled eggs.  Notice the jalapenos on top.  These were great, I've always been a deviled egg fan.

Next up was the fried chicken.  This was probably one of my favorite dishes.  It was real pieces of chicken with a thin, but solid breaded crust, none of this amalgamated chicken with cereal on the outside nonsense.  They came with great Siracha Ketchup and BBQ Mustard dipping sauces: subtle touches that set places apart from your run of the mill bars.

We then had the Short Ribs, cooked in Dragoon's Irish Stout.  Some of the folks were only so-so about this one, but I really liked it and enjoyed the mashed potatoes which were drenched in a caramelized onion au jus.  Behind that you can catch a glimpse of the Lamb Burger.  Maybe I'm just not a lamb burger fan, but this one didn't really do it for me.  The bread, arugula, and cheese were all well thought out, but perhaps I just prefer beef burgers.  Lamb burger fans will probably rejoice though as it was cooked perfectly.

By this time I was ready for my second beer.  It's been a while since I've had anything from Eagle Rock Brewery, so I tried their Solidarity, which is a English Dark Mild Ale.  Very glad to see that PS612 is supporting the local breweries as well.

Here's a nice picture of some of the Saison DuPont that Megan was drinking.

Next up for food was the Wild Mushroom and Taleggio Lavash Pizza.  This was probably the food highlight of the afternoon.  Arugula, mushrooms, and Taleggio galore, but what really made it was the hints of chili flakes and truffle oil, really delicious!  I'd like to try this one again paired with some of the lighter Belgian ales they have tap.

The afternoon wouldn't be complete unless we tried their beer float, made with Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and signature PB+J cookies and milk.  The float was great, they nailed the amount of ice cream to beer ratio perfectly.  I'd like to see them branch out and offer some other flavors of ice cream or styles of beer.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with my trip to PS612.  Sitting by the big windows and looking out on the busy streets of Downtown made me happy I was inside drinking a beer and relaxing.  Despite being on the busy corner of 6th and Flower and sharing a space with Daily Grill, the bar maintains its own space, which is a relaxing space to have a quick bite and drink a good beer.  Often it's difficult for new bars that stem from existing franchises to maintain their own identity, but PS612 definitely has personality and character.

Great Divide Titan IPA

Great Divide Brewing is on the short list of my favorite breweries that I think consistently make great beer and I will always buy when I have the chance.  However, their beer was never for sale in California, so for years this has meant buying through ebay or making bottle exchanges with wandering beer gurus.  This past fall, Great Divide Brewing signed distribution deals with Stone and since that time Great Divide beers have been showing up on shelves in SoCal.  I couldn't be happier about this and it's just another reason why we should love Stone.

When thinking of Great Divide, I generally think of their big beautiful stouts and barleywines – dare I say Yeti...  However, they make some other interesting beers outside of the big category that are very worth talking about.  This week, I present you with Titan, their single IPA.  I love that they're putting suggested food pairing on the side of their bottles; it's fantastic, it helps you to drink the beer as they intended and aids people in the difficult task of beer and food pairing.

The color is deep golden and there's just the slightest hint of cloudiness.  A fairly miniscule head, with little retention.  I smell a decent whiff of piney hops, guessing cascade, with overwhelming sweet malts.  Seriously, the malts smell so sacrine and gentle, it conjures up mental images of powdered sugar.

The body is on the heavier side for a single and it definitely coats your mouth with its thick resinous hop and sweet malt flavors.  This beer has a hop bite arching all the way through the sip.  The bite is less floral and more resinous and grassy.  The malts are on the sweeter side leaving a little caramel that when mixed with the heavy hops produce a wonderful sweet mixture, not unlike tasting a piece of pineapple.  At times the finishing hop bite can be so strong it borders on a slightly fishy aftertaste.  It's a small flaw in this otherwise fairly perfect beer.  Despite being at 7.1 and being very bitter, I think the drinkability is off the charts.  Thanks again to Great Divide and Stone.

Titan IPA: ****1/2