Fifty Third Meeting

Due to a stroke of bad luck and technical difficulty with gravity (I dropped my computer) I was not able to attend last night's WTBC meeting. But brother Derek stepped in and stepped up. See above photos a drastic improvement on his last entry.

Fifty Second Meeting

Collaboration Beer Night

Life and Limb

Is a collaboration of Dog Fish Head and Sierra Nevada, and classified as an American Strong Ale. Pours with a light head and a dark black color. Taste is a little oakey, I taste a good amount of licorice, others do not share this view. Mouthfeel is universally agreed to be thick and Mrs. Butterworth’s Maple-syrupy. At 10.2% this one is very drinkable booze is well disguised in a heavy malt profile and licorice (for some of us).

3.05

Allies Win the War!

Collab between 21^st Amendment and Ninkasi. And Turnbull makes the pre-emptive strike on grading and kicks us off with an A and thereby infecting all our minds in advance, nice tactic, this is war. Dark amber, light lingering head. Grammatical error found on the can! A prize to who sends me the error and correction (excluding member that are present at this meeting). Smells of west coast hops, strange considering it is brewed here in MN, and some nice malt. Can says that there are some dates in here, I agree. Nice subtle, fruity, sweetness at the end. M: is on point, not too thick but lingers nicely.

3.17

Ovila – Saision

Collab between Sierra Nevada and Abbey of New Clairvaux , beginning to wonder if SN does any of their own beer… this one is best drank while listening to a Phish song. A: Orange-blonde nice lingering light colored head. S: Is that of hay and other farmhouse odors T: Is fruity and lots of wild yeasty flavor as one would expect M: Thin, nice, refreshing, perfect for summer day D: HIGH

3.10

Blackheart

Collab between 3 Floyds and a tattoo artist in SF (the artist made the label). A: A tangerine orange light dissipating head S: Very citrus nose, T: very citrus taste followed by some Belgian yeast flavors finishes clean and super delicious. M: spot on bold and refreshing at the finish D: HIGH as beans.

3.63

Van Twee

Collab between Bell’s and De Proef. A: Sliver of light at the edges otherwise very dark, SEA MONKIES! And lots of thick head. S: Dark malt and lots of Cherry nose T: Cherry is prominent in flavor as well, finishes nice and tart. Taste is very similar to Bell’s cherry stout, but strong and takes more of a front seat. M: mildy thick nice and lingering cherry flavor which has a sharp finish. D: High

3.37

Signature Ale

Collab between Port Brewing and De Proef. A: Nice golden blonde thick and plentiful head S: Is fruity and a hint of citrus hint of yeast farm scent T: Is hoppy and citrus, likely a Port influence has some nice yeast flavor notes M: Nice and clean, good summer drinking I’d say, and I do say. D: Orange alert

3.05

Collaboration not Litigation

Collab between Avery and Russian River, whooooey expectations are high for this one, two great breweries. A: Rosey golden light lacey head S: hoppy and Belgian yeast T: Citrusy M: don’t remember we’re already onto the next one after a lengthy debate on the finer points of Big Eddy. D: OK or yellow alert, overall a let down considering the contributing breweries.

2.80

Barrel Aged Brrrbon

Not a collab but this is part of a double beer bonus. A: Dark Amber light amount of head S: Smell is promising, oakey and good T: Is brrrrbony, nice depth of barrel M: Thinner than expected from the nose but there is a lingering burn. D: pretty, pretty, pretty good

3.10

TRIPLE BEER BONUS!

Jubel 2010

Deschutes Jubel, a once in a decade ale and Colin has pulled out all stops in this triple beer bonus! A: Dark Ruby quickly dissipating head S: Cereal maybe frosted flakes T: Sweet and malty, some spice M: thick and lingering D: Orange P.S. I am not where near to doing justice to this review, we’ve been side-tracked multiple times and this is a triple beer bonus, give me an effing break. This is a great beer, and IMHO could use some more time, this isn’t agreed by many on the tasting but I still assert that this would be great in another 3 years. Too sweet and and too thick even now for my tastes.

3.68

Fifty First Meeting

BORDER BATTLE

Derek keeps up the tradition of f-ing things up ROYALLY. It should be said that Derek is probably the most active home-brewer in the WTBC and as such always has beer flowing from one of the four taps from his kegerator. NOT TODAY. Every single person asked if he had a side beer for them and they all got the same answer “I do but I’m out of CO2”. What a let down.

ABT

The battle starts with a WI beer, perhaps appropriately as GB just returned a punt for a TD and also started the NFL border battle. This one pours dark ruby red, thin lacy head. Smell is sweet with a good amount of fruity esters, some cherry and other berries. Taste is fruity sweet but not overly like some jam with honey balanced. Good amount of carbonation and a slightly thick mouthfeel. At 9.75 this is highly drinkable as booze is all but undetectable.

2.94

Devine Oculust

And onto a MN beer during what will hopefully be the first of many successful Viking drives. Nice golden color light amount of head dissipates quickly. Smell is of banana and fruity ester nice yeasty smell as it should be. Taste is bitter up front and a tart citrusy finish. Mouthfeel is good slightly on the thick side. Pretty fair drinkability Jeff says that after two pints it can get kind of trying. Speaking of trying this drive is trying everyone’s patience and resulted in a failed field goal attempt.

3.56

Bitter Woman

We’re back on the wrong side of the river for this one. Can’t blame her for being bitter she does live her life in Wisconsin. Pours golden with a red hue head is light in color and doesn’t stick around. Smell is slightly graprefruit and strong presence of malt. Taste follow closely and finished out a tart-bitter citrus and finishes clean. M: good, carbonation is acceptable. My bitterness for WI is growing by the second.

2.80

Glacial IPA

Yet ANOTHER sconny beer, mother F. Foggy apricot in color thick white head and lingers for a bit. Smell is more piney than the last but there is a hint of a truer citrus (I don’t’ consider grapefruit a real citrus, cause I hate it). Taste is strong hops up front, but not overly bitter as it quickly followed by sweetness from the malts. Great mouthfeel and drinkability is higher than the last one. Consensus is the last one was better but hatred of grapefruit is tainting my opinion.

2.74

Rainmaker

Back in the homeland of t-puppies, viqueens, and lynx. A: Deep amber nice frothy head. S: punches in the nose with hops it is SUPER hoppy even compared to the last two IPAs. Goes to show that while WI can put together a football team they are really slipping when it comes to the beer department. M: Good D: very good, this is a great beer and would recommend drinking at any opportunity.

3.38

Great Northern Porter

A; Lots of light colored head, and dark! S: is great! As helped by Colin’s pouring snafu the room is filled with a delicious roasty aroma. T: We don’t like the initial taste but like the after taste, the nose exceeds the taste for this one, slightly disappointing. But still good mind you. M: Is thin maybe slightly too carbonated in my opinion. D: Pretty, pretty high.

3.06

Mud Puppy

A: Cream colored head healthy amount of it too S: is as good as the last one although we don’t have the added benefit of a exxon valdez style spill (is that still relevant after the BP/gulf of mexico thing?) T: This one starts roasty and finishes with some chocolate notes, more dimensional flavor than the last one. M: Nice, slightly thicker but still over carbonated. D: high

3.34

Cygnus X-1 Espresso

A: Lots of foamy head, light in color and lingers S: Lots of coffee/espresso aroma almost overwhelming, and strong roasty presence. T: Is almost solely dominated by roasty coffee flavor there’s not a lot else discernible in this one, it is decidedly good though mind you. M: Strong flavor lingers mouthfeel is light and carbonation is good. D: a little strong on the coffee but if you want a coffee porter this is what you need.

3.38

Bancreagie

A; Medium amber color and a fair amount of head. S: immediately earthy and smoky and a sweet finish T: has a nice barrel flavor and a grounding earthy flavor, pun intended. M: pretty good thick and lingering D; good I could put a few of these away if it wasn’t the last beer of the night, before bonus beer! I thought this one was pretty decent I think that others disagreed, but there is a stigma about Brau Bros in this particular club.

2.48

WTBC Turns 50!

Hurrah! Happy 50^th(meeting) Birthday WTBC! Looks like we’ve got IPA’s and stouts for the most part, not a surprise for those familiar with the WTBC. Here we go!

Stone Ruination

Tom J’s offering kicks us off here, and a fine offering it is. Nose is citrusy and a hint of booze. Taste follows nose, hops are strong flavor of grapefruit and finish dry, good malt presence. Brent’s favorite of the line-up form Stone. It was described by the group as Stoney (that one’s for you Derek).

3.73

Surly Furious

Now onto Jeff’s offering, he brought his personal favorite with Furious, which pleases the hometown crowd. Super solid IPA selection. Nose is of citrus and pine nice lacey head. Taste is 100% Surly, well blended hop and malt profile, resiny hop finish. Good beer. Furiousy.

3.83

Masala Mama

For Turnbull’s offering we have another hometown favorite. Town Hall’s Masala Mama. Lingering head aroma is sweeter and less citrusy than Furious, one might say more balanced…flavor is also more balanced nice hop punch of front and a present malt backbone. REFILL, this growler is going to take a team effort to kill. Carbonation is spot on. MMMMMM

3.87

Moloko

Brent’s offering comes from Three Floyd’s a highly favored brewery amongst us as they consistently are making delicious offerings. This is their milk/sweet stout and I’m excited to try it. My pour has a root beer float style head, dark tan, creamy, and lingering. Nose is a sweet/bitter with roasty notes. Taste is smooth and creamy with a pronounced roasted finish. Milky, milky whiiiite. Label gets some serious props form the author.

3.69

Abyss

Let’s everyone fall into the Abyss. I pity Emily’s task of cleaning the floor after this one, from our man stains. Darkness’ cage match for tonight. Lighter colored head sticks around. Nose is expectedly roasty and heavy on chocolate and thirdly coffee. Taste is strong of bitter chocolate, and roasted malt some hints of vanilla. Makes one feel complete…

4.0

Darkness

Pondziiiiiiii brings the Darkness stamped on top with a 2011 indicating its’ origin from Darkness Day rumor has it the this one might have belonged to a member of WTBC that has since moved to a whale’s vagina consensus is that this is sweeter and Lukcysmoother than the Abyss and has some more hop presence and darker head overall appearance to me is better fucking awesome is a quote from a member that previously hated coffee and chocolate the mouthfeel is similar to Moloko nice and creamy and ranks slightly thinner than the Abyss

…,,,…..,,,…..,,….,.,,,.,

4.0

OK so here’s the tally

Abyss: 6

Darkness: 2

Smoke Stack Imperial Stout partially aged in whiskey barrels

Lampe has graced us with a delicious offering tonight, one of my personal faves. Light head and quickly dissipating. Nose is barrel and sweet boozy followed by the expected malts. Taste is deep really nice barrel flavoring that coats the tongue. This is incredible I must say although it is generally agreed that this could benefit from a little more time as the booze is a little hot. My personal favorite of the last three.

3.71

Lucky Bastard (Lukcy Basartd)

My offering is my offering. See above for the name spelling corrected for those of us who are naturally dyslexic and my apologies to the Alstrom Bros to whom I sent a correction on the BA entry for this beer to correct the spelling prior to reading the label. Oops. SO first off this is a shift from our last tastings. But nose id sweet of caramel and the remnants of citrus hops. Taste is nicely oaked sweet caramel and a finish of booze. Everyone seems to like this one. It is a great beer; Turnbull says he’d have one if he had to.

3.56

Oaked Arrogant Bastard

Sorry reviewer out of order. Try it yourself and save a quarter.

3.41

Forty Ninth Meeting

As I was unable to attend this weeks meeting it appears brother Derek took the blogging duties and decided to re-work the format a little bit. See the image above for what I've received to make this post, if someone has a Rosetta Stone for the scribble in the margins please let me know because I'm curious as to its contents. While I admire innovation within the WTBC, I think we'll go back to a more traditional format for our 50th meeting. Which includes tasting notes beyond taking words from the label to describe the beer.

Forty Eighth Meeting

Big things happenin'. Since we've last convened, Mike announced that he's moving to Seattle to take a job at Amazon. He already left, so we're down one member.

Even more recently, I made the announcement that I'll be moving to San Diego to take a position as a hobo, so this will be my final beer club as Blogmaster. The club plans to continue on without skipping a beat as Belfry and Turnbull will likely take turns as scribes.

We're at Belfry's tonight and the theme is "Non-California beers," in honor of my dishonorable discharge from the state. There should be a few tasty treats tonight at my last regular meeting.

We're grouping the beers tonight by style, so we won't go in the usual host-goes-first order. Joe goes first with Moylan's Chelsea Porter, which is brewed in CA. Welp, we're off to an off-topic start. This one comes in at 5%. It pours a pretty dark, but not completely opaque. It smells sticky and sweet. It has a pretty thin consistency and tastes of caramel. Creamy. Pretty good.

BPA: 2.94

Next up, I bring to the table Maui Brewing Coconut Porter, which comes in at 5.7%. This porter is much thicker than the last porter and smells more chocolatey. The coconut definitely takes a backseat to the chocolate and oatmeal qualities in this one. A pretty solid porter, but everyone was expecting more coconut.

BPA: 2.84

Tom J is up with a Rodenbach 2007 Reserve, which is a delicious Flanders Red. It's hard to screw up this style, unless you tell people there's coconut in it and don't come through. This one comes in at 7% and is aged in oak barrels. This stuff is pretty cloudy, a reddish color that is barely transparent. It has a strong fruit taste, but doesn't seem as tart as the regular Grand Cru version. A very strong beer, we agree.

BPA: 3.65

UberNoob John brings to us Gude Greg's barrel-aged scotch ale from Berkshire Brewery. It doesn't have much of a scent but it's full o flavor. This is spot on for the style. A strong caramel flavor that isn't too sweet, and you can get a taste of the barrel flavors as well.

BPA: 4.0

Ddubs has a tough act to follow with our next Scotch ale offering. This one is straight outta Montiggity, a brewpub in Missoula called Kettlehouse. Their Coldsmoke Scotch Ale is 6.5%. This one pours a deeper color, but is more transparent. Derek brought his cans very cold, and thought it was a good idea to run them under warm water to bring the flavors to life. He won't admit it, but I bet he put it in the microwave and forgot about it. It's difficult to discern the flavors at this temperature. Anyways, it's pretty smoove. Welp, that was a weird experience.

BPA: 2.68

Lampe brings us an Old Ale aged in 16 year scotch barrels. Harviestoun Ola Dubh is the name. This one comes in at 8% and is one of the first old ales we've had at beer club. It pours pitch black and smells caramelly and boozy. It's a nice malty ale which has a strong wood taste. It's like taking a scotch ale shot then licking the trunk of an oak. Kind of like a Highlander version of a tequila shot with the wheels.

BPA: 3.79

Belfry brings us a hot trick that I haven't seen before. Three Floyd's Behemoth Blonde Barleywine comes in at 10.5%. It pours a standard barleywine color- brown and foggy. It's pretty hoppy and smooooth for 10.5%.

BPA: 3.75

Turnbull brings us Southern Tier Gemini, which is a Double IPA that comes in at 10.5%. Southern Tier sure does make a lot of Double IPAs. This one has strong flavors involved. It's a mix of Hoppe and Unearthly, which results in another SURPRISE! hoppy, boozy double IPA. It pours your standard cloudy orange color and smells of citrusy hops.

BPA: 3.21

Next up we have the first of three fresh hop beers. Woodpond brings to us Fresh Hopped Mirror Pond by Deschutes. I have more than a hunch he chose it because it includes "pond" in the name. This one is technically an APA, so it shouldn't be as hoppy as the next two. It's definitely oily, so you can tell there are fresh hops, but it's not a hop bomb. Quite tasty and drinkable for 5%.

BPA: 2.9

Colin brings one of my favorite Surly beers to the table- Wet. It's a fresh hopped IPA where they pick the hops on day 1, overnight them to Surly on day 2, and throw them in the beer on day 3. It smells like freshly hewn lawns. A very hoppy beer, but its not over the top or syrupy. Very citrusy hops. Probably because this year's batch was 100% Citra hops. I just wish our pours were bigger...

BPA: 3.72

FIRST BONUS BEER! I bring to the table Port Brewing High Tide Fresh Hop IPA. This one comes in at 6.5%. It's skunkier than the Wet, and doesn't smell or taste as oily. You can still smell the fresh hops though, and it's a lot more bitter.

BPA: 3.42

Lastly, Belfry brings us his bonus beer. It took several minutes of digging through his well-organized cellar to determine which beer(s) he's offering. Belfry brings Alaskan Brewing's Perseverance Ale, which is their Imperial Stout. 9%, it is. It's a thick black color that smells a little bit like licorice. It's mouthfeel is medium. Pretty tasty... let's keep this moving.

BPA: 3.37

Not lastly- Belfry brings us Old Viscosity from Port Brewing. It's a regular ole Russian Imperial Stout which comes in at 10%. Standard look, standard smell. Delicious taste indeed.

BPA: 3.61

Finally, Belfry brings us Old Viscosity's older cousin, Older Viscosity. This one comes in at 12% but is not a blend like the last. This is one of the world's finest imperial stouts. Smells bourbon. Tastes heaven. I'm glad this is my last beer in standard beer club. It's just a chocolatey bourbon sandwich, topped with chocolate sauce. A's.

BPA: 3.9 (not an A from Tom J)

Well that was a humdinger for my last beer club. Goodnight and God bless.

Forty Seventh Meeting

Guten Abend! We're here at Herr Cheezener's hauB with some German lagers tonight. Joe, Colin, Woodpond, Brent and I are currently here, while Belfry is joining us later. Trink mit mir, ja?

We're breaking tradition by starting with a non-host beer tonight. Belfry put in a special, selfish request to have us wait for him before we try Brent's beer. So, I bring to the table Spaten Optimator Doppelbock. One of the few dops we haven't had, this one comes in at 7.8%. It pours a standard thinnish dark brown color. Not too carbonated- smells caramellly. Small amounts of hops, but the caramel dominates. One can't really taste the booze too much. It tastes fairly thin and flat, but an easy drinker. Solid.

BPA: 2.9

Next up, we're going back to Brent. He brings us a taped 'n' swing-capped beer straight from der Mutterlande. This one is Brauhaus Schillerbad Helles, which is a light German lager. 4.9%, it is. It pours a cloudy copper color. It's nearly odorless and has very little carbonation. There's a bit of barnyard (and according to Woodpond, mothballs) present. It's pretty mild up front, but comes back with some interesting malt and hop tastes.

BPA: 3.17

Woodpond, bring us your beer! He has Paulaner Original Munich Lager. It pours a very transparent golden color. Smells like a lager tastes like a lager.

BPA: 2.72

Colin brings us the first domestic offering- Surly Hell. 5.1% ABV on this one. Definitely a bolder flavor than the German versions. There are some hops present, but it's mostly more malty.

BPA: 3.2

Joe brings us Kostritzer, which is a schwarzbier. Or black beer for the non Germanophile. A thin lager mouthfeel and tastes much like a lager. Sweet, present malts ovewhelm your tongue-holes. There are some ambient hops as well.

BPA: 3.23

Belf brings us Southern Tier Krampus Imperial Pilsner. This Pils comes in at 9%, which is very un-pilslike. It pours like a standard pils, but it smells much sweeter, which is undoubtedly due to the booze involved in this one. It pretty much tastes sweet as well. The booze is prevalent. Pretty good though.

BPA: 3.2

BONUS BEER #1 of HOPEFULLY 2!

Brent brings us Conflux #2, which is a collaboration between Boulevard and Deschutes, which are two solid breweries. It's billed as a Belgian IPA at 7.3%, but they brewed it with wheat beer, which may create some pale wheat ale flavors. Let's get it onnnn. It smells spicy and Belgiany. Black pepper, wheat, orange, and an aquarium of sea monkeys. I think this one is served a bit cold because the booze is fairly prevalent. It's quite crisp and strongly flavored, but fairly refreshing. This seems to be a repeat buy at merely $7 a bottle.

BPA: 3.38

Lastly, Brent brings us another bonus beer. This one is out of Salt Lake City- Epic 825 State Stout. This one is a 6% oatmeal stout. It's a nice, roasty stout. Not imperial- thinner on the mouth and less hot booze. Definitely a complex enough stout to be much different than a Guinness, but not too much where you can't drink more than 1.

BPA: 2.9