Nostalgia begets whiskey

I was at my friendly neighborhood booze shop recently and happened to see a bottle of Leopold Brothers American Small Batch Whiskey.  I'm actually familiar with the brand.  Leopold Brothers, currently located in Denver, Colorado, originally operated a brewery and distillery in Ann Arbor, Michigan where East Coast and myself went to law school.  I really loved their Ann Arbor location.  Leopold Brothers was a place where you could drink, play board games (checking them out from the bartender), or have a pizza and catch the game.  Now, when they were in Ann Arbor they produced beer, gin, pisco, and vodka, but not whiskey.  So, for the sake of nostalgia I picked up a bottle.

Leopold Brothers claim that they produce their American Small Batch Whiskey in the pre-prohibition style, which is to say that they barrel at a lower proof (98 instead of the modern 125), ferment naturally without refrigeration, and distil the corn and rye over a whole day instead of flash-boiling.  Interestingly they claim that by barreling at a lower proof this allows "more of the whiskey to come into contact with the barrel, allowing the mild brown sugar and molasses notes that come from the charred barrels to shine through."  I'm not sure how that's true, unless the lower alcohol content means that the "angel's share" is smaller.  Anyway, the real question is how does this pre-prohibition whiskey stack up?

For the record, I'm drinking this neat.  First, the whiskey is very clear and light in color.  Leopold Brothers doesn't state on the bottle or their website how long they're aging the whiskey in the barrel but I wouldn't think more than a year and certainly not more than two.  It's similar in color and clarity to hard cider or a desert white wine.  It has a mellow smell, mostly yeast and alcohol.  The taste is similarly mild and distinctly unlike most bourbon.  The whiskey is sweet, tasting slightly of vanilla and corn syrup.  It's not cloying, but it is mellow and pretty one-dimensional. 

So my verdict?  I wouldn't buy this again or order it at a bar, but it wasn't bad.  I'm actually intrigued to try some of Leopold Brother's other whiskeys.  They make a "New York Apple Whiskey" that I might have to seek out given how much I love hard cider and Calvados.

Put it in a box

The boyfriend and I visited Paso Robles and the Santa Ynez Valley this past weekend and enjoyed wine tasting in both regions.  We generally like to visit smaller vineyards, where you might find the winemaker or his or her spouse at the tasting bar.  There's just a better feel to the smaller places, where folks are still very much pouring their heart and soul into the wine.  But I'll get off my soapbox.  I'll be reviewing quite a few of the wines that we purchased on the trip, but I thought I'd start with the most unexpected find: quite good boxed wine.

We were at the Hidden Oak Winery in Templeton, CA.  First let me say that Hidden Oak Winery is located on a beautiful piece of property, with great views of the region, and that we had a great experience in their tasting room.  We found some Merlot there that we really liked and were informed that it came in a box.  Four bottles of wine in the box for the price of 2.3!  You can't argue with that deal, and I've increasingly heard about winemakers attempting to try boxing their wine, despite America's aversion to the boxed stuff based on experiences with Franzia at undergrad.  The thing is that with the box, the wine lasts much longer once opened (assuming you're not going to finish a bottle in an evening) and does not appreciably diminish in quality once opened because of the vacuum seal.

But, is it any good?  We thought that Hidden Oak Winery's 2006 Merlot was good enough to bring home a box.  As you can see from the picture, the Merlot has a dark color, and while you can't appreciate it in the photo, it's a really nice dark ruby color.  It has a relatively weak nose of red fruit.  Now, even though the wine comes in a box it is a 2006 vintage and does require some time to breathe.  When I first poured myself a glass I found a bracing acidic aftertaste.  Luckily, that quickly faded as the wine opened up.  Hidden Valley's '06 Merlot is very fruit forward, with a mellow tannic finish.  The fruit flavors (raspberry, currant, and cherry) are quite nice, and the wine is well structured.  You can tell that the tannins have faded with time, and they balance the fruit nicely.  Finally, it's a fast-moving wine in my opinion.  There's not much of a long lingering finish here, which some folks will like and others would no doubt criticize.  My verdict - it's a good value and high quality, and should pair well with grilled meat and seafood.

Expanding the beat.

The ladies over at Jezebel have a post up today entitled How Much Alcohol To Drink So You Never Die. I found it amusing, and for some reason it actually caused me to reflect on my on drinking habits.  Over the past year I've made an effort to drink little alcohol during the work-week, and instead do my drinking over the weekend.  While this change has probably been overall good for my health, it is a major change for me.  During law school, I'd frequently enjoy a beer with dinner.  Now that I've been cutting back on drinking during the week I find that I'm not drinking as much beer as I used to.  I enjoy a wide variety of booze including most wine varietals and spirits.  Lately, I've been spending more and more time with wine, whiskey and scotch rather than strictly drinking beer.

So, while my previous posts have been devoted to beer, I've decided to broaden the purview of your noble West Coast correspondent to include these other beverages.  I'll still cover beer, but less frequently.  I hope that this change will be welcome. I certainly will have much to say -- I'm well informed on wine but a whiskey novice.  And, since I'm located in San Francisco, I've ready access to some of the finest vineyards in the world. Look forward to some dispatches from Paso Robles starting next weekend, as the boyfriend and I are taking a weekend to do visit the AVA for wine-tasting and see my favorite band in concert.

On a slightly related note, I learned today that there is no proof that Ben Franklin said that "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" (or similarly attributed quotes). Instead, Ben Franklin wrote this about wine:

We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy. The miracle in question was only performed to hasten the operation, under circumstances of present necessity, which required it.

This finding was clearly an auspicious omen for the newly expanded project.   A toast then, to beer (still proof God loves us if you ask me), wine (in vino veritas), and whiskey (the water of life).  Cheers!

Beginning a New Session

East Coast is a far better beer photographer

I recently had the pleasure of drinking one of the beers our East Coast correspondent previously enjoyed in March, Full Sail's Session Black, a black lager checking in at 5.4% abv. Like East Coast, I'm generally suspicious of black lagers. This could be because one of my favorite beers, Death & Taxes by Moonlight Brewing, is so exemplary that other black lagers seem terribly disappointing in comparison.

I found the Session Black to be good, although not as good as Death & Taxes. First, I have to say that the Session Black has a fantastic nose. It smells slightly yeasty but also has notes of coffee and chocolate. It has a slight smoke and chocolate flavor that is pleasant but ultimately too insubstantial. I understand that the brewmaster is walking a tight line, trying to add flavor without making the beer heavy, but I really felt that the Session Black was too light for its nose. I think this has a lot to do with how carbonated the beer is. It really feels like you're drinking seltzer when you take a sip. This doesn't drive the beer into "would not drink again" territory, but it's a mark off what is otherwise a very pleasant lager. All in all, it paired quite well with the grilled bratwurst and tomato salad that I was having for dinner, and I'm not at all worried about finishing the bottles left in the fridge.

Give me Irish coffee or give me death!

First they came for the Four Loko, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a binge-drinking 17 year-old...



As many of you probably know, the FDA effectively forced the makers of Four Loko to reformulate their beverage and remove the malt alcohol from the allegedly fruit-flavored energy drink. Some state legislators don't feel like we're doing enough to protect our children (and ourselves) from the menace of caffeinated cocktails. Iowa state Sen. Brian Schoenjahn (D-Arlington) has proposed a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for any business with a liquor license to "manufacture for sale, sell, offer or keep for sale, import, distribute, transport, or possess any caffeinated alcoholic beverage." A "caffeinated alcoholic beverage" is defined as "any beverage containing more than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume, including alcoholic liquor, wine, and beer, to which caffeine is added." Thus, this bill, if passed, would effectively outlaw not only the old-version of Four Loko but also cocktails containing both caffeine and booze such as the red-bull and vodka or my beloved--the Irish coffee.

Now, West Coast, though currently residing in San Francisco, hippie-capital of the People's Gaypublic of Drugifornia, is actually a corn-fed Iowa boy. And let me tell you, it doesn't get much more anti-Iowan than telling people what to put in their cocktails. Our liberties we prize and our rights we shall maintain, Senator Schoenjahn! We Iowans cherish freedom. We love our booze! Iowa ranks fifth in the nation with 3.73 bars per 10,000 people. Senator Schoenjahn, I suggest you step away from the Irish coffees or I'm going to have to move back home and raise an army of concerned pre-alcoholics to keep you from re-election.

Hat tip - Reason magazine

Not for everyone

While waiting for a late-night reservation a few friends and I decided to grab a quick drink at B3, a burger and wine bar in our neck of the woods. Not in the mood for wine, I saw that they had an a stout on tap that I hadn't seen before, the "Breakout Stout" by Marin Brewing Company. The Bartender excitedly mentioned that his distributor told him that he was the only place in San Francisco that had it on tap. Curious, I ordered a pint.

The beer looked nice, it poured quite dark with caramel head and very mild carbonation. Given the nose, mild chocolate and coffee notes, I was really looking forward to a sip. The first sip was really quite good, I tasted chocolate cake, a mild smokiness and there was a mild alcohol finish. Pleased, I took a second sip. The sweetness vanished and what I was left tasting was alcohol, hops, and iron. My mouth felt parched from a strong, drying (almost tannic) aftertaste that was not at all pleasant. Although advertised as having "a long finish," I can assure you that this beer should not have been called "finished" at all. I should point out that I love bitter beer. Bitterness wasn't the problem with the Breakout Stout, but rather the acrid and tannic mouth feel. Nonetheless, having paid San Francisco prices for the damned pint, I was determined to finish it. After a while, the 7% ABV started to kick in on my empty stomach, and my dulled senses found the Breakout Stout more palatable. Not by any means something I'd order again, but palatable.

As I finished the glass, the bartender asked me what I thought. I explained that I enjoyed the first sip, but that the finish was a bit unpleasant. The bartender looked at me, seemingly dumbfounded, and stated dryly, "well this beer isn't for everyone." Personally, I think that unless you're in the mood for a bracing aftertaste, this isn't for you.

Jubelale is a really great name for a winter beer

West Coast here, with a review of two seasonal releases: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s “Celebration” Fresh Hop Ale, and Deschutes Brewery’s “Jubilale.”


Sierra Nevada on the left, Deschutes on the right.

First, the “Celebration.” The Celebration poured with medium carbonation and as you can see above a nice dark amber color. I found the nose reminded me of a rainy garden with some meaty undertones. The Celebration is subtitled as a “Fresh Hop Ale,” and I found that while the flavor of the hops in the beer wasn’t pronounced upon first sip, it kicked in quite strongly at the finish. In the middle I tasted lemon and orange citrus. While I enjoyed the Celebration, I personally found that the mouth-feel was a little unbalanced, and didn’t enjoy the harshness at the end. I’m a big fan of IPAs, of bitter beers, but there was something about the harshness at the end that I didn’t enjoy.

Next up is Deschutes’ “Jubilale.” If you hurry, you might still find some of this at your local grocer or beer store, but Deschutes stops production in December (it’s apparently available starting in October but I didn’t see it in my local store til December). The Jubilale is 6.7% ABV, and pours a deep mahogany color with a nice foamy head. It has a pleasant mineral nose. This beer starts out sweet, with flavors of malt and caramel, then the alcohol takes over and you’ll enjoy stone and oak flavor, finally there’s a pleasant and mild hoppiness at the end. I quite enjoyed the Jubilale and think it would stand up strongly and pair well with the heartier cuisine of wintertime.

Last Season's Beers

As East Coast points out, I have fallen a bit behind. Just remember these beers the next time that Autumn comes to the bay area.

A beer that I should have talked about several months ago is the Bruery’s Autumn Maple. The Bruery is located in Orange County, CA, and I tried this beer at one of my favorite beer-bars, Pi. I found the Autumn Maple to have a strong roasted yam flavor with notes of alcohol and maple. Despite these sweet flavors the Autumn Maple is well balanced and not at all cloying. I’ll be checking out another Bruery offering soon.

I finally had the pleasure of tasting another one of the Russian River Brewing Company’s beers, this time the Consecration. The Consecration is barrel aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels and unsurprisingly pours with a reddish color. I found it both sweet and tart, and tasted lemon cake, minerals and rhubarb with a finish reminiscent of coconuts. I’m not sure why I fixated on those very specific flavors, but I did.

My favorite beer this fall was from Moonlight Brewing Company. Moonlight makes Death and Taxes, what I believe is one of the finest Lagers in California. I absolutely love it, and when the bartender alerted me that she was carrying another one of Moonlight’s beers, the “Homegrown” Fresh Hop Ale I immediately ordered a pint. I was not disappointed. The Homegrown is an exemplary beer, with a nose of apricot and citrus, crisp minerality, and a strong hop profile. The Homegrown is brewed with hops immediately after picking and you can taste it. Definitely worth checking out if you can find some.

Now that I'm back on the horse, look forward to a review of several winter brews later this week, while they're still in stores.

Beers with animal names

West Coast here, many apologies for the long absence my good friends and fellow beer-lovers. I started a new job last Monday and I’ve been settling in at work and had depressingly little to drink. That all changed this weekend though, as I enjoyed both the Blind Pig by Russian River Brewing Co. and the Shark Attack by Port Brewing Co. while watching my Hawkeyes beat Penn State.



First up, the Blind Pig. I must admit, I picked up the Blind Pig because it shares its name with a bar in the town where I went to law school. The Blind Pig is an IPA with 72 IBUs and 6.1% ABV. Russian River Brewing Company is one of those breweries on the West Coast whose star has been rising for a while, and with beer like this you can see why. It poured out a dusky, straw color with mild carbonation. The Blind Pig has a floral and hoppy nose. It’s fairly bitter, with lots of pine, hops, and alcohol in the mouth and a strong vegetal finish. The Blind Pig isn’t the best IPA I’ve ever had, but it was very solid, and based on it I’ll be drinking more of the Russian River Brewing Co.’s stuff in the near future.

Next up was the Shark Attack by Port Brewing Company. The Shark Attack was described on the bottle as a “double red ale,” whatever that means. It clocks in at 9% ABV and poured with a beautiful hazelnut color and nice foam. The nose is apples and ramen flavor-packet, make of that what you will. It has a very syrupy mouth feel, and tastes like cider with notes of apples, yeast, and cinnamon but ends with a bracing alcohol finish. The strong malt flavor overtakes the “hoppiness” you might expect from a red ale. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoying beer, and paired quite well with the pizza and football. The Shark Attack is definitely worth checking out for the unique taste and feel.

It’s not you, it’s me

So, I was shopping earlier this week, and in honor of the whole Autumn thing I decided that I would pick up some pumpkin beer from one of those artfully arranged displays in grocery stores highlighting whatever is on sale. I grabbed a four pack of Dogfish Head “Punkin Ale.” This is a Dogfish seasonal beer which is 7% ABV. Dogfish has been making the Punkin Ale since 1994, starting before the brewery was even open for business.

Let me start by saying that I love a lot of Dogfish’s offerings. I think that their Chicory Stout is delicious and that their IPAs are exemplary. However, I did not enjoy the Punkin Ale. I found it incredibly sweet. The sugar and the alcohol together created the sensation of having sugar crystals biting into my tongue. It reminded me of when I was in high school and kids would eat sugar packets at the Village Inn. I definitely tasted the allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg (as advertised on the label of the bottle). There was also some malt and, as I said, lots of sugar. What was missing though was the pumpkin flavor. Now don’t get me wrong, there was a subtle undercurrent of pumpkin. But that entire delicious meaty pumpkin flavor was overwhelmed by Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Now, I'm not saying they used McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice, just that it tasted like it. And as a baker who grinds his own spices, I guess that's a bit of trash-talk for you, Dogfish.

So, I still have 3 more bottles of Punkin Ale. I’ll give it another whirl and see how things go. I want to love Punkin Ale, but Dogfish, I think that this time it may be me, not you. You see, I’m guilty of not liking a lot of white ales anyway, and there is some flavor profile overlap with the sweet spices in this brown ale and some white ales that I’ve had before. Maybe we need a second opinion. What do you think, East Coast?

Farewell Beers

Recently a good friend of mine made the decision to go to leave San Francisco and attend law school in Minnesota. Being the good geeks that we are, he and I decided to play a last round of Settlers of Catan (German Game of the Year, 1996, check it out!), drink, and reminisce before he began the long drive to the frozen North. I picked up a couple beers to enjoy, the Anderson Valley Brewing Company’s “Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema” and “Piraat Ale,” a Belgian produced by Van Steenberge Brewery.



We first drank the Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema, 5.6% ABV. The beer is apparently called the Cerveza Crema because it “has become a favorite among many of our Hispanic friends, so it is named in their honor.” I am also a huge fan of the Cerveza Crema. It may have been the 80-something degree heat but this beer was damn refreshing. The taste is creamy and smooth, with notes of wheat, vanilla, and a mild alcohol bite. Clocking in at a whopping 4 IBU, you may be unsurprised to hear that there was no hop taste to speak of. My sister described it as reminding her of an Almond Joy. I’m not sure that’s really correct, but it gives a nice reference point for the creamy and sweet taste of the beer. Lest you be worrying, “I don’t like sweet beer,” I can assure you that unlike other sweet beers I’ve tasted, this was not in any way cloying. Bravo to Anderson Valley Brewing Company, I’ll be checking out your other options soon. As for the rest of you, get to their “beerfinder” and go get Crema.

Second, we popped open a bottle of the Piraat Ale, 10.5% ABV. The label declared it to be one of the “top 5 Belgian beers” or some other nonsense. It certainly has a pretty label, which I was unable to photograph properly, as you can see below:



The label states that the beer is a “Belgian IPA,” but it’s definitely not an IPA. Although it has a kick of alcohol (10.5% abv) it has none of the strong hoppy flavors associated with an IPA. Maybe this was just an error in printing, because the beer is a fine regular Belgian pale ale. The Piraat pours with a nice foam, but as you can tell from the picture that foam fades away fairly quickly. I found the beer to be quite sweet, with only a mild bit of alcohol heat and hops at the end. The beer had that Belgian malt and yeast taste that is typical of Belgian pale ale, as well as a bit of spicyness. I’m not sure I’d call it one of the top 5 Belgian beers that I’ve tasted, but it was a solid Belgian pale ale.

Vacation Beer Review Part 1 - California

Your West Coast correspondent has just returned from a two weeks of well deserved vacation. The first ten days or so were spent driving down the California coast, and the remainder was spent in the socialist paradise of Toronto, Ontario. Having now made the drive down the Coastal Highway I cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s definitely worth doing before shuffling off this mortal coil.

Although the focus of the California trip was on hiking and wine-tasting I did somehow manage to consume some California beer along the way. First up, the Acme Pale Ale:



I had the Pale Ale while waiting for my dinner reservation at the Big Sur Bakery. Incidentally, the food there was so delicious that the boyfriend and I headed back to the restaurant for breakfast.

The Acme Pale Ale checks in at 5% ABV and is produced by the North Coast Brewing Company. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I’d already had another one of North Coast’s beers before, the Scrimshaw, which I would recommend highly to pilsner fans. I'll definitely be checking out their other offerings soon.

As you can see from the picture, the Acme Pale Ale has a beautiful almost pumpkin or roast squash color and light foam. The nose is very mild and the beer has a great crisp taste. The Acme has a mild citrus and hop flavor to it, and it is an extremely refreshing beer after a long day of hiking (and undoubtedly extremely refreshing without the hiking as well). Highly recommended.

Our second beer is the Firestone Walker Double-Barrel Ale (DBA), 5% ABV. The DBA is produced by Firestone Walker, which is located in Pasa Robles, CA. Apparently they are the winners of Champion Brewery/Brewmaster award from the Brewers Association World Beer Cup (an event that it sounds like I simply must track down tickets to) in the mid-sized category for the past three years. The beer is an English Style Bitter/Amber Ale, and ours was poured from a bottle.



As you can see from the photo, there was virtually no head from the pour. I almost wonder whether the bottle had been mishandled in shipping or by the restaurant. The DBA had a maple color and had a strong sweet and hoppy taste which ended with a finish a wet stone. Honestly it was not my favorite beverage of the whole trip. I found the sweetness unpleasant and didn’t like the finish or the lack of carbonation. However, given Firestone’s long list of accolades I’ll probably be trying their Pale Ale soon.

Beer & Pi

Greetings folks, this is your Left Coast correspondent reporting.

Last weekend my boyfriend and I headed to Pi Bar. We had heard that Pi had good pizza and a neat beer selection and we were not disappointed on either account. Here's what was on tap that night:

The atmosphere at Pi was very nice, and the service was very attentive. We very much enjoyed our pizza with house-made sausage and balsamic onions. This, combined with the excellent beer list makes Pi Bar into a beer bar that we will be returning to again. Rather than having something from the tap, we decided to sample a couple selections from their bottled selections.

First up was the Gageleer, a “Sweet Gale Beer” (7.5% ABV). Sweet Gale, also known as Bog Myrtle, was used with other plants in a mixture called gruit to flavor beer from the Middle Ages to the 16th Century, before hops became widely available. Or so Wikipedia tells me.

Gageleer is produced in Belgium, and because the website is only available in Dutch at this time I don’t have much else to say about it. Using Google translator with limited success I discovered that the beer is organic, brewed with barley and gale, and is unpasteurized.

Apologies for the poor qualities of the pictures, I was using my phone that evening.

The Gageleer, which undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, poured with a nice foam head. It has a pungent floral nose and a pleasant straw color. The Gageleer was unlike any beer I have ever tasted. It was hoppy but also quite sweet, with the flavors of honeysuckle, candied orange, and anise. The alcohol flavor is well hidden. The floral nose becomes a bit overpowering seven or so sips in. My boyfriend described it as tasting of grape Kool-Aid. Trust me, once you hear that you will taste it too. I found that the anise/spice flavor faded and it did end up with a Kool-Aid taste. This is undoubtedly due to (1) the sweetness of the beer and (2) the power of suggestion.

My verdict for the Gageleer is mixed. This is definitely a beer that you would have to linger over or share. I could not have finished it on my own. It was definitely unique and also nice to broaden my palate, but I would not order the Gageleer again. 7/10.

For my second selection I ordered the Maredsous Brune (8% ABV). Maredsous is actually no longer brewed at the Maredsous Abbey, but the Abbey licenses its name to Duval, who brews on their behalf. So, while crafted in the “tradition” of the Benedictine monks, it is mass-produced. Duval maintains that they follow the original recipe of Father Atout. Regardless of who makes it, the Maredsous Brune is a thoroughly pleasant beer:

As you can see, the beer pours extremely well and developed a nice foaming head. It has a mildly sweet nose and a good dark color. In drinking the Brune I found it had a pronounced yeasty flavor, with a slight hoppy taste and sweet currant undertones. In swallowing, the beer develops what I found to be a very pleasant mild alcohol finish. I would drink again. 8.5/10.

We also enjoyed a pint of Death & Taxes, a porter so good that it will have its own entry sometime soon.

Have you tried any of these beers? Let me know what you thought in the comments.