SAVOR 2022, Part Deux - All The Other Great Beers of the Night!

 STANDOUTS AND CURIOSITIES

Here I'll talk about some of the night's standout beers as well as some curious, funky, weird beers that deserve a wider audience. I do commend all brewers in attendance for showing up, though, and this does not represent all of what SAVOR had to offer. 

Side Project Brewing, Maplewood, MO - "Oude Fermier"

I'm a sucker for Flemish-style ales so immediately I had to visit Side Project. Based just south of St. Louis, Missouri, Side Project has a ton of fruit beers, bieres de garde, and Flemish ales. They brought a barleywine and the "Oude Fermier", a 7.00% ABV farmhouse ale aged in Chardonnay barrels for a total of 12 months, mixing with wild Missouri yeast and bacteria before bottling. Once bottled, it was conditioned for another 6 months before release. 

Golden and hazy in the glass, I'm getting lots of delicious apple cider vinegar notes - flavor is super tangy, pungent, and dry. I love it. Some beers of this style are excessively fruity; this one has little fruit at at all and presents a strong yeasty flavor with the familiar farmhouse funkiness. a little winey, maybe, good acidity. A complex saison and fans of traditional Flemish ales will find this most pleasing. 

Odd Breed Wild Ales, Pompano Beach, FL - "Tilling Time"

Odd Breed is new this year, and being a huge fan of wild ales, I had to visit. All of their beers are fermented with a mixed culture of wild yeast and bacteria, and then aged in oak barrels. This is similar to the lambics and farmhouse-style ales of Belgium, which is a style that American producers are not attempting in any large numbers due to the time, effort, and craft such styles require. 

"Tilling Time" is a Lambic-inspired wild ale, which spent 16 months in French oak puncheons (a size of oaken barrel containing 104 gallons, or just less volume than a "butt" but more than a "hogshead." No I did not make that up.) After this, "Tilling Time" spends almost half a year in freshly-emptied Ardbeg 10-year Scotch barrels. 

And damn, can you taste that Islay character! The beer presents heavy notes of peat and earth, with some stone fruit and cantaloupe making a tiny appearance at the end. Acidity is more or less middle-of-the road, but the real star here is that peat character. Very good job on this one!

(photo credit: Kyle L. on Untappd as my photos did not come out)

Cheluna Brewing Co., Aurora, CO - "Chupa Guava"

You may recall Cheluna from my 2019 coverage...Javi and Jennifer Perez were back with their chelas sabrosas, bright colors, and elaborate labels and coasters. They're back, thankfully, and Cheluna's quality of beer, commitment to community, and vibrant colors all make this one of my favorite breweries to see. I follow them on Facebook, despite living thousands of miles away, and they have some really neat, community-driven events...lotería, dancing classes, terrarium building...all sorts of things I'd love to try. So obviously I'm super happy they're back.

Today they're pouring "Chupa Guava", a 5.50% ABV blonde ale made with guava. The name here is a play on words, referencing Mexico's mythical chupacabra. Crisp and refreshing, and the guava adds a nice tropical dash of sweetness and fruit. This is the kind of beer you can enjoy for hours, and the texture is just perfect - the guava "persists", as Javi says, and presents throughout the beer in both aroma and taste. 

My only regret is that I'm not closer to Cheluna...maybe someday soon I'll make it out to Colorado! Thanks Jennifer and Javi, as always, for everything!

Javi and I!

The Bruery, Plascentia, CA - "Portified Black Tuesday"

The Bruery is back again, bringing another rare offering from their cellar. This is the "Portified Black Tuesday", a 17.90% ABV Port barrel-aged imperial stout made with syrah must. They aged it for multiple years, blending and refining, before bottling in 2021. 

Woof, I mean, ~18% is pretty wild and I would expect nothing less. The Bruery has always brought super-heavy beers to SAVOR. 

It's served somewhat warm, which I think is a good call. Sweet and heavy, and sweeter than I typically go for. But just like a glass of port, it's a fine dram - boozy, a bit oaky, and very warming. There's no carbonation to speak of, just viscous, oily liquid, and meant to be sipped as a digestif. The food pairing here is sticky toffee pudding, which works perfectly - and in fact, I had seconds.

 These 500mL bottles go for $55 a pop, if you can find them, so definitely a rare beer.  

Fremont Brewing Co., Seattle, WA- "Ye Olde Centaur"

Fremont, my old Seattle standby. I've been to their taproom a few times and have reviewed their beers many times over the years. A solid Seattle choice, led by Sara Nelson (now on the Seattle City Council!) and husband Matt Linthicum, head brewer. Matt was here this time.

This is their "Ye Olde Centaur", a 10.00% ABV barrel-aged English-style barleywine made in memory of Matt Bonney, a bigtime Seattle beer guy who I actually met a few times at Bottlewerks. He was a lover of Scotch, cigars, beer, and whiskey, so this beer is made in his memory and honor using some of those ingredients. 

It's full of molasses, brown sugar, toffee and nougat with a hefty dose of oak, vanilla, and wood. A little "chewy", as I like to say, requiring a few moments of swishing in the mouth to fully appreciate the flavors. There's a touch of raisins there, too. 

This is the kind of beer to pour into a snifter on a fall day and watch the sun set over Mount Rainier, sipping and savoring the complex spice character that the 10yr American (Buffalo Trace) and Scottish whiskey barrels impart. Regrettably, Matt is not here to try it, but at least we can raise a glass in his memory.

Dogfish Head Brewing Co., Milton, DE - "Fermentation Engastration"

Dogfish Head is the second largest "craft" brewery in the US and responsible for hundreds of beers over the years, and founder Sam Calagione is considered one of the titans of brewing in the US. They're here with a few offerings, most interestingly the "Fermentation Engastration", a 10.00% ABV experimental ale brewed in collaboration with Gastro Obscura.

They call this the "Turducken" of beer, and I guess that makes sense: the first brewed rose sake, then into that added honey to make mead, then added apple cider from Angry Orchard to ferment that into cider, then added Muscat grape must and topped off with Belgian-style saison. And voila, it's...beer? 

Kind of an odd (tur)duck(en), if you ask me. There's an interesting nose on this one for sure, pretty muddled - full bodied, sort of like a light trippel, some stone fruit, but an odd effervescence...floral on the back end for sure, which could be the sake. 

Keenan says outstanding! I like it but would probably want to enjoy it on its own at some point, not while having other beers. 

Hi-Wire Brewing Co., Asheville, NC - "Japanese-Style Dry Rice Lager"

Hi-Wire's originally facility is next to a sake brewery, so they used koji (rice with mold spores) to make this lager. It's clean, crisp, and bone-dry, a nice everyday drinker. It's super clear, too! Sort of the lager version of Stillwater Artisanal's "Sake-style Saison." Might be a wonderful everyday drinker and highly worth trying, especially for people that like clean, almost-flavorless beer. That's not at all to say it's bad, in fact, achieving this kind of clarity is a rare feat. I'd also pair this with spicy food. 

Here's me having a chat with the brewer!

Site 1 Brewing Co., Omaha, NE - "Cerna Dira"

Site 1 came to SAVOR last time, I believe and most of their beers are retro space-themed. Here, they're serving up the "Cerna Dira", a 4.60% ABV dark lager. 

"Cerna Dira" is Czech for "black hole", and is Site 1's alternative to their regular Czech lager. I do like the dark lager style, and this one does not disappoint...it's off-dry, less malty than expected, a little roasty, but soft and easy-drinking. It's a dark lager, as opposed to a lagered stout. Does that make sense? Served with lamb and polenta, I love the combination of savory, malty, and herbs. 

Land-Grant Brewing Co, Columbus, OH -  "Macha Mochi Sour" 

Land-Grant out of Columbus was here, serving up one of the more unique beers of the night - "Macha Mochi Sour", a 4.50% ABV American sour made with vanilla, mochi powder, milk, and rice flour. 

Very interesting! A touch creamy, herbal, and soft, it's far less bitter than most macha I've had. Very peculiar, in a good way, and hard to describe. It's almost like a matcha vanilla milkshake mixed with a beer. My vote for most off-the-wall beer of the night, and something I'd like to try again in a more focused environment. Fans of sours should be cautioned that this isn't super sour.

Final Thoughts

SAVOR was pretty solid. Although the feel has changed over the last few years, I still think it's a worthwhile event. Breweries from all over the US come to this festival, and since many of those breweries do not distribute nationwide, attendees get a chance to try beers they would never be able to otherwise. 

I do have to temper my remarks with a few suggestions for improvement - I felt the layout was far too crowded and the aisles too narrow to really interact with brewers. There was a lot of line-cutting and the staff tasked with delivering food often, quite forcefully, pushed past attendees and hefted hot steaming plates far too close to guests. While some of that is unavoidable, I felt if the event was smaller (fewer brewers, larger space) that might mitigate that. A fun part of this event is spending time with brewers and learning about their products (and, as media, conducting interviews!) and small spaces don't make that super easy. 

But in any event, I had fun, Keenan had fun, and I am very thankful to be asked back. I hope that next year, some logistical changes are made, and I look forward to another successful event in 2023. 

(photo credit: the Brewer's Association)