What Might Have Been...

Sierra Nevada 2008 Bigfoot (unopened)

(Or How I Missed the Session for Barleywine.)

I even had a nice, researched entry planned out. Oh well.

The Session #11 Doppelbocks: Troegenator Double Bock

This month's edition of The Session is being hosted by Brewvana, with the theme 'Doppelbock: the Illuminator'.
For my contribution, I chose to focus on one of my favorite doppelbocks, or double bocks in the case of Troegenator. Brewed by Troegs Brewing Company out of Harrisburg, in the center of this fine state of Pennsylvania. I'm certain Troegenator was the first doppelbock I ever tasted and remains a go-to for the style, not only due to its availability (found on tap at a certain bar in rural PA that's home to the 'World's Largest Burger') but its high quality and great taste.

Troegs describes Troegenator as:
The Troegenator Double Bock, is a dark, strong lager (8.2% abv). It pours into a glass with a bronze to brown color, fluffy white head and bready malt aroma. The Troegenator leaves a rich, warming feeling and subtle spicy flavors. The style, Double Bock, dates back a century or so ago. During periods of fasting without solid foods, the Monastic brewers relied on the double bock; a stronger, richer beer to fulfill their basic nutritional needs. Known to them as "liquid bread," a double bock has a strong malt aroma and chewy rich body. Traditionally these brewers ended the name of their double bock with the suffix "ator", ex. Celabrator, Illuminator, Subliminator... In the spirit of the tradition we give you the Troegenator to provide warmth and richness through the early spring months. A double bock of epic proportions, beware, the Troegenator is deceiving smooth and delicious.



The Troegenator I poured for this Session was picked up at a place that used to have a less than reputable beer selection. They recently expanded their offerings and added a singles cooler, as well.

Here's to Troegenator and the Trogner brothers for recreating a fantastic example of a classic German beer and making it readily available in rural(ish) Pennsylvania. Prost!

Skipping the Session

Despite pre-posting, getting prepared and buying a special new release, I blew off the Session. It seems they had a good turnout, I doubt I'll be missed.

Why no dubbels for me? Well, I think I had a good excuse. Traveling up to State College by way of I-99 took me past Marzoni's and Otto's and I could not resist the call of the growler fill.

I ended up bringing home a growler of Marzoni's Weizenbock and Otto's Maibock, and since I believe one of the suggested themes of this round was bocks (and will probably follow in turn, so I may have jumped the gun) I'll just pass it off as some sort of conscientious objection. Opportunity knocked and I had to answer.

So Friday was a bock night. I've only opened the Maibock thus far and my thoughts are as follows:

Poured from a growler into a pilsner glass. I got this growler Thursday, opened it last night and am reviewing the beer today, Saturday afternoon. Otto's website says this one comes in at 6.4%

Pour is still well carbonated, an easy tilt leaves a fluffy creamy head capping a clear and rusty body, with curtains of lace above the foam.

Smell is of floral and grassy hops along with malty sweetness, though not much aroma unless forced. Whiffs of alcohol, too.

Taste is bready and sweet, like a blend of grains, honey and nuts, almost cereal-like. There's a good hop bitterness as well, present mostly in the finish, a spicy flavor the washes the tongue as you swallow. As it warms, more fruitiness comes through and the hoppiness drops back to more of a grassy flavor.

Mouthfeel is lighter than medium bodied with a nice crispness and some mellow carbonation. Notable, but not overpowering warming and alcohol.

Drinkability is good, this is a beer intended to welcome the warmth of spring and though my timing was off and I'm sipping it on an April day all of 33 degrees F, its a nice balance of warming and drinkability.

Another Session ahoy, this Friday she be...

Arrr, mateys!

Allan at A Good Beer Blog has sounded the warning for Friday and this time the beers be Dubbels (just stick with me on the pirate theme for a minute)!

Like Allan, the area is a tad lacking in Dubbels and my personal experience is consistent. However, Clipper City recently released a new beer to their line-up, Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale.



Part of the Heavy Seas line-up of very tasty beers, Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale is:

From the centuries-old tradition of Belgian Abbey monks comes our Uber Abbey Ale (9%). Aromatic and very full bodied, the beer will pour a deep burgundy in color and feature a rich, robust depth of malt character. Grab a line – Holy Sheet! – or you might be swept overboard.

Some websites (like BeerAdvocate for example) call it a Beligan Dark Ale, but in that same category are many other Dubbel-style beers, like New Belgium Abbey, Ommegang, and Chimay Red, so I think I am safe enough.

I'm really looking forward to trying a new beer from Clipper City and I'm quite pleased with the way the timing worked out for this one. Now walk the plank, land lubber!

The Session #1 Roundup

Stan's posted the round-up of the first Session aka Beer Blogging Friday. Looks like a great turn-out, especially for the kick-off event.

The Session: Not Your Father's Stout

The theme of the first-ever Beer Blogging Friday aka The Session was "Not Your Father's Stout" though I must say that if my father did enjoy beer, my choice is one right up his alley.

Brewed in St Louis, by the St Louis Brewery aka Schlafly, Kaldi's Coffee Stout is an October release.

This collaboration with Kaldi's Coffee uses the cold toddy method of extraction for the coffee. We mix it with Oatmeal Stout for an exceptionally delicious beer. Also available in bottles.

A friend of mine who owns a Coffeehouse was able to tell by taste that it was a cold toddied beer, though the best assessment I can give is that its my favorite coffee beer.

As I've noted before in this space, I am a big fan of coffee and beer. Combine the two and I'm as close to heaven as I will get, so saying the Schlafly is my favorite holds some weight, at least to me.



On to the beer.

This is a very dark stout, the normally dark bodied beer made even more-so with the addition of the coffee. A huge puffy head rises out of the glass, fluffy but packed with tight bubbles. As it falls to a constant layer of foam, it leaves creamy lacing behind on the side of the glass.

The smell, perhaps oddly enough, is not overwhelming with coffee. There's a nice nutty roastiness to the beer along with obvious whiffs of dark roast coffee, but with it comes a sweet creaminess.

The taste is quite bitter, again mainly the role of the coffee, the hops present here are much in the background. This beer is rich and creamy, with a silky texture that's just a tad sticky-sweet. A tad high in alcohol at 5.7% to be a true session beer, but when the weather is cold and the wind is blowing, a session with this beer is a welcome opportunity.

Being a coffee stout, this beer begs to be paired with dessert, perhaps a warm piece of apple pie (a la mode of course). For the more adventurous (or those with little pressing for a day) this beer is made for breakfast. Can anyone say pancakes with an apple compote and just a touch of fresh whipped cream?

Sip a stout.

Most of the beer blogs have done the reminder for this Friday's first ever mass-beer-blog, now dubbed The Session.

Sort of as I warm-up (I think), Hop Talk has a shirt blurb on the history of stout as a beer style.

“Stout” could be applied to any style, meaning it was not uncommon to see a “stout pale ale”. In 1820 Guinness began producing a stout porter. As time went on, “stout” came to apply only to porter and, eventually, the “porter” part of the name dropped off.

Also, of note, over at the Portland Beer Blog, a post begins detailing New Old Lompoc's upcoming seasonals, which include a “blonde stout” dubbed Bombshell Blonde.

Bombshell is brewed to a stout recipe without the dark grains that give stouts their coffeelike bitterness and color. It uses oats, which give it a dry hay sensation on the palate and a quenchingly dry finish.

Sounds like something a homebrewer would make. I'm quite curious how that would turn out.

All that's left to do now is decide what stout to try. You can help Bryan decide his choice over at the Brew Lounge.

I'm wondering, do I drink Thursday night and post on it Friday, or try to do it all in the course of Friday evening?