Early Bird Brew

I’m writing this on the saddest Fourth of July ever, there are no fireworks allowed here in Austin so instead I am writing about beer. There is a few pieces of good news to cheer you up though. First we have the opening of Round Rocks newest theater turned brewpub, Flix Brewhouse. They opened up last week with a sneak peek of Transformers 3 and have 42 beers on draft (I haven’t been to verify this). They also announced the stealing of Independence brewer, Justin Rizza, as their new Brewmaster. We can expect to see some in house brews (6-8 selections, wow that’s a good size) sometime in August. I might have to go check this out and report back to you.

We can also celebrate that Whip In has finally procured a brewhouse to start their own in house brews. There is no timetable on when we can see those on tap though. Adelberts also posted a few new photos of their brewery in the assembly process.

Twisted X received label approval for kegs of the Siesta, a lager infused with prickly pear. Sounds strange to me, but I would be willing to try it.

Also in case you had the blues on the 4th like me then you can make up for the lack of fun by heading out to Circle Brewing’s Epic Open House.

It’s all happening at the brewery this Saturday, the ninth, from 4-7pm. You will get a chance to sample their fourth beer: Epic Hop Bock.

I haven’t had a lot of Stone beers. They are known for their IPA’s and more hoppy beers. Old Guardian is a Belgian style beer. It pours very hazy amber or almost copper color. It’s topped off with a small tan head that only sticks around for about 60 seconds. The aroma has yeast, malt and toffee notes. In fact it smells like I cracked open malt extract and took a big whiff. For those of you who don’t know what that is like, its pretty much similiar to the strength of maple syrup but malt flavored. In the background there is a subtle earthy hops note.

The taste is mostly sweetness on the front of the tongue but in the middle that sweet flavor is balanced with a hop punch. It has a fairly dry finish with a bit of bitterness that leaves you coming back for another sip pretty quickly. The beer is a big 12% ABV and it drinks like it. It is definitely a sipping beer. The body is big and the beer feels substantial and rich, I couldn’t drink much more than 8 ounces of this in a sitting.

The beer was released in February so mine had only aged for about 3 months and honestly it probably could have used another 3 months of aging. It’s a nice sipping beer and the battle waging between maltiness and hops kept me wanting another taste. It actually reminded me of a bigger, maltier, hoppier version of Brew Dog’s 5 A.M. Saint. Which in my opinion is a good thing.

I’ll give this one a solid B, it was a little to big of a beer to be something I would drink very often but is a good once a year beer.

This is going to be more like a monthly dose of TWBL. I’ve been busy and out of town the last couple of weeks so there is a lot to say.

Lets start with new beers. Jester King announced another collaboration with Mikkeller. They recently made Drink’in the sunbelt, a hoppy wheat, with Mikkeller. In November they will be teaming up again to produce a Texas version of Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch. They also announced a Berliner Weisse that they have already brewed and we should see soon? I hope!

Rahr and Sons received label approval for The Regulator, a German Dopplebock. I had the chance to visit Rahr and Sons brewery a few weekends back and got to enjoy a few good beers and to hear a bit about their history. They are a great brewery that deserve support from us local Texans.

Black Star Co-Op brewed up a batch of their summer seasonal called Elba. It is a beer collaborated own by member owners and Lemon Peel, Lemongrass, and Birds of Paradise. Look for the beer around the end of June.

There have also been plenty of events that have passed and been announced. Hopefully you had a chance to be involved with Independence’s Scavenger Hunt. The winner has already been announced but it looked like a lot of fun. Just a few days ago there was a party for the second issue of the Austin Beer Guide.

As for upcoming events there is the Texas Craft Brewers Festival coming up on September 24th. Thirsty Planet has a big one year anniversary party coming up on July 9th and will feature a fully roasted pig, plenty of beer,  and live music. The Draught House is celebrating a few more years than that, 43 to be exact, on October 22nd.

Jester King, Austin Beerworks, and Hops and Grain have released a few bits of information about their brewery. Jester King brought in some more fermentation tanks and posted a quick blog about wild fermentation. Hops and Grain is inching ever closer to being for sale to the public and released some pictures of their awesome tap handles. Austin Beerworks has updated their website and has their beers out on tap and cans coming soon. In fact I had the chance to swing by the Austin Beerworks Brewery on Saturday and was excited to see their progress. After talking with Michael Graham for a while I am even more excited to see their beer on the market. Their Fire Eagle IPA is one of the most well balanced IPA’s I have tasted and I highly suggest you grab a pint, or a can, if you see it out.

Last, as always, there is a handful of new breweries in the beginning or opening stages: Cornel Brewing Co. in Beaumont is almost open, there is also Galveston Island Brewing Co., Guadalupe Brewing Co., New Braunfels Brewing Co., and Ugly Rugger in Denton.

I apologize for the two week hiatus. I’ll admit I was a little burnt out from writing plus I had a new addition to my family, a niece name Ellie. However, I am back and I have a backlog of reviews and news.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t really like like beers. In fact if someone was to offer me a Miller or Bud light I might even just ask for water. I’m not trying to be snobbish I just don’t really enjoy them and don’t find them to have an appealing, if any, flavor. I will give them credit though, since they do consistently make a product that always tastes the same and appeals to a wide demographic, it’s just not my cup of tea, or beer in this case.

Shiner has done a decent job of making a light beer. I might even go as far as to say it is my favorite of the American Lager style beers. The beer lacked much of any aroma and had the typical crystal clear straw color of its light beer counterparts.

Overall, I actually didn’t think it was too bad. Shiner has been in a bit of a rut in my opinion with their 102 Wheat and Ruby Redbird being somewhat disappointing. Not that I think a decent light beer can really turn that around, but, at least it was a positive rather than a let down. The beer has a good bit of malt sweetness up front and a decent body that holds up to the sweetness. It does still have the characteristic acidic, dry finish of all light beers but the actual malt flavor coming through was a bit of a surprise and actually led me to think, “hmm, this isn’t too bad”.

If you must drink light beer, why not support a Texas brewery: B-

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Raise a glass in honor of those who have fought and are still fighting for freedom in our great country.

Last week we saw Black Star Co-op release a revised version of their Dockhand brew called Cantankerous Dockhand, which was brewed with chili and cocao. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, have you? What did you think?

Real Ale brewery has been around for 15 years, can you believe it? To celebrate they are having a 15th anniversary party on June 25th from noon to 5pm. Sounds like a nice day trip to me.

In the soon to be available front we have Johnson City’s Pecan Street Brewing who started up the mash tun this week and brewed up a batch. I’ll keep you up to date when you can start looking for their beer.

I’m not sure what style this Juniper Black Ale is going for. It pours a rich black color reminiscent of a stout and along with the finger of tan head comes the roasty aroma of coffee, dark fruits, and earthy juniper. It almost smells a bit musty and although that sounds strange the aroma is strangely intriguing and has me excited to try the beer. I would think a black ale would be similar to a stout although part of me thought his would be more similar the Black IPA’s that are popping up. I found it to be not really in line with either style.

Upon taste the roastiness comes through but it doesn’t deliver on the coffee aroma. In fact is a bit astringent and has an earthy bitterness to it. I am guessing a lot of this comes from the Juniper which seems to dominate the flavor profile and lends a herbal and floral taste that doesn’t seem to balance well with roasted black maltiness. While drinking it a dark, foliage heavy forest comes to mind. It is moderately carbonated and has a moderate body but it sits really heavy. If I thought it was more balanced this would be nice one to sip slowly but unfortunately I don’t really enjoy it.

Out of the four Beer Camp beers in this 12 pack this is probably my least favorite. C-

It is a light news week for me mostly consisting of breweries opening or planning on opening. First up we have Freetail Brewing Company with the announcement of their second location: Houston. The deal is pretty much set in stone with a projected opening date of 2012. I recently went to the original location in San Antonio and really enjoyed the place, I was hoping that the second location would be here in Austin. If you get a chance to stop by in San Antonio try the La Rubia.

Out in Marble Falls Doublehorn Brewing Company is officially open for business after a ribbon cutting ceremony. They have four beers they are offering up: Watermill Wheat, 1855 Pale Ale, Locked Antler Amber, and their rotating Texas weather tap (named after the quickly changing weather patterns in Texas).

Last we have news from Aggieland (yes I am an Aggie) about New Republic Brewing Company. They are officially fully licensed and should have their beers out and around town in College Station. I inquired about when we might see their brews here in Austin and they said one to two years. Seems like a trip to College Station is in Order.

On a recent trip down to San Antonio I made it a point to stop by Freetail Brewing Company. This north San Antonio brewpub was started back in 2008 and has some awesome food, of which we partook, as well as a continously revolving offering of beers. These guys brew up a lot of various beer but one of their house staples is the La Rubia. Claire and I got a 5 tasting flight when we went to the brewpub in order to taste a good variety of what they had and La Rubia was the one that stood out. We also tried a stout, a pale ale, and two wits. So upon leaving I decided I would bring back to Austin a growler of La Rubia (only $16).

The beer is a hazy yellow straw color. There wasn’t much in the way of head but it had been in the growler for two days before I got around to cracking it open. The aroma was a lot of fruit, at first I thought it was bananas or mango, and finally landed on a mix of various tropical fruits. It smells absolutely delicious, whether I could peg down the exact aroma or not, due to the grains and malt it comes across smelling like cake with a fruit icing.

As for the taste, well it is excellent. Not sure what it is about this beer but it makes me smile, its the perfect summer blonde Ale. There are definetly those tropical fruit and banana flavors, but, what I finally figured out with this beer is that it reminds me a lot of Abita Strawberry Harvest. There is most definetely some strawberry aroma and taste but it is very subtle and well blended. The malt balances nicely with the fruit notes and finishes with just a slight hop note. Overall the beer is really juicy and well balanced even though there aren’t a lot of hops in the taste. Even without the hop bitterness it doesn’t come off to sweet, it is a very light drinkable blonde.

This is one of my favorite beers that I have had in a long time. In fact if I was one of those homebrewers that kegged I would turn this into a house ale that I always had on tap. I actually emailed Freetail to see if they would be willing to share the recipe with a homebrewer, so far…no word. Guess I will just have to enjoy this growler. A+

Congrats to Jester King Brewery for getting the People’s Choice Winner for their Black Metal Stout at the North Texas Beer Festival. Jester King also unveiled plans to bottle up their collaborative beer that they brewed with Mikkeller, Drink’in the Sunbelt. As always they have a cool label for the bottles. They are still hand bottling these bad boys so show your support by picking up a few.

Hops and Grain hasn’t even released a beer to the public, yet they are snatching up barrels in order to make an altered version of their alt, pun intended. They recently picked up 12 bourbon barrels and I am sure they are as excited to put them to use as we are to drink the beer that will come out of them.

Saint Arnold’s Weedacker made its triumphant return to taps around Texas last week. I wrote about the new (sorta) beer in a previous brews letter and am looking forward to trying it since it has been a while. I don’t really remember it to be honest.

This week is Craft Beer Week and there is a lot to do and a lot of places to be if you are a beer geek. One of the bigger events is put on by Independence Brewery and is their Independence Draught Sessions. The party happens on May 21st at 7pm out at independence brewery. $10 gets you beer samples and music.

Uncle Billy’s is celebrating every day of the week by offering a $2.50 pint coupon on their facebook page for any of their house beers. Not a bad deal if you want to change it up everyday and try a different house beer. The Ginger man is following suit by offering  a different special tap everyday at 7pm. Tuesday, Real Ale The Kraken, and Friday, Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #11 on cask, seem to be the standouts to me. Draught House is following in similiar footsteps by doing something special everynight as well. I would vote for wednesday as you can get a free glass with any Southern Star beer purchase and they will be tapping Maui CoCoNut PorTer. If you can’t make it Wednesday then try for Friday as they will have Jester King Black Metal Stout on cask. Draught House also gets the event of the week. On Saturday they will be having the first tapping of Austin Beerworks. Of course, with the release of any new breweries beer comes the gigantic crowds so don’t expect to find a seat on Saturday.

Real Ale wraps up the news with a few tidbits: Their 15th Anniversary Ale will be a Russian Imperial Stout and their first bourbon barrel aged beer, a porter, is about ready to drink.

As a precursor to my thoughts on this beer let me just say that I have only tried one other Black IPA, Cascadian Ale, or whatever you want to call this still forming style. So my knowledge is limited, regardless, just like my other reviews I base most of what I say on my own personal taste.

This was the last beer in the Sam Adams Longshot Series six pack. Up front, I think it is the best on of the three. Plain and simple I think as a beer, as a new style, and as a beverage this beer is spot on and delicious. The beer pours a dark, dark brown like a thick molasses. It had about two fingers of tan head with lots of carbonation and bubbles running up through it. I still think it is weird to put your nose up to a dark beer and get a hop aroma but that is what happens with these black IPAs. This one smells of hops that are citrusy and maybe  bit earthy. The hops are complimented by some subtle notes of roasted chocolate and vanilla.

The beer crescendos with a perfect mix of hops and roasted malt. It is citrusy yet coffee like, floral yet chocolaty. It reminds me a lot of those chocolate oranges you can buy around Christmas time. In fact this would be a perfect beer to have around the holidays. The hop aroma gives way to a taste that is more reminiscent to a chocolate vanilla dessert. Then the hops come back around to leave a subtle bitterness on the finish. This beer drinks like a desert or milk stout but isn’t quite as roasted or rich. It doesn’t have the heavy body of a stout but instead combines the best parts of a stout with the best parts of an IPA to make an excellent beer.

Wish they sold this one individually. A+