Rogue Brewing Co. - Chipotle Ale

I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for interesting-looking ales. While I always enjoy a good, solid, traditional beer, I find that there is a whole world of beer out there that's brewed with unique ingredients or using unconventional methods. These beers, while definitely unorthodox, can hold some interesting flavors and tastes. Oregon-based Rogue Brewing Company takes the lead on a lot of the fun and interesting brews, but other breweries (like Southern Tier) also have their versions of flavored or specialty ales.

I ran into one such beer recently - Rogue's Chipotle Ale. The base is a 5.5% ABV amber ale, which is then brewed with chile peppers. This beer looked very interesting, just sitting there on the shelf, so being both a fan of peppers and of beer, I figured I would give it a shot. I was making some nihari curry that night and so I figured the beer would be a good prelude to the meal - it would warm up my tastebuds to the nuclear flavors of the dark red curry simmering on my stove. 

There was very little carbonation to this beer when I cracked it open. It poured a hazy amber with lots of white foam and lacing on the glass. The nose was of hops and peppers - this is going to be good! I let the beer sit for a few minutes to open up to the air. Nice notes of smoke and dark hops as the beer mingles with the air. The lacing and head subsided. 

It was tasty - for sure. There was a nice malty taste paired with a peppery flavor and a little bit of sweetness. I like the way the light filtered in through the beer. The color is very indicative of the taste, if that makes sense. The beer finished nicely, with a steady aftertaste of smoke and peppers. There was also a bit of a bite to it, at the end - pretty cool. My beer has never bit back before.

Unfortunately, like Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut, which as you may know I did not particularly like, the flavor here isn't quite as strong as it could be. Make no mistake - this ale has the bite of chile peppers. But the taste is not as hot or as pronounced as one might expect it to be. There is definitely pepper flavors here, along with some pleasant smoke and hoppiness, but there's not a lot of heat. And the spice and pepper flavors are dulled - and not unpleasantly so. However, this beer avoids the nasty sweet alcohol-y taste of the Voodoo Doughnut, which is a blessing because that was awful. 

But one thing positive about this experience is that this beer succeeds in not screwing up. When you think about it, a beer brewed with chile peppers has quite a bit of room to run into problems. The peppers could be too hot - or not hot at all. They could not mingle well with the beer and turn out awful tasting, bitter, or gross. Yet this beer is none of those things. It comes off as a rounded amber ale with notes of chile peppers in it. Sure, it's not a perfect chile beer, but it's pretty good and is definitely worth a shot. 

So if you're considering trying this beer, I definitely suggest doing so. But know that your experience may not be what you expect. Rogue delivers a nice brew here for $8. 

Boulevard Brewing Co. - Saison-Brett

Every so often, a special brew comes along that you immediately grab and jealously hoard. My top beer on that list is Southern Tier's Imperial Pumking, of which I will buy any store's complete stock. It's that good. I'm just crazy about it. Perhaps it's my New England heritage that instills in me a strange but undeniable urge to seek out pumpkin-related foods. Or maybe it's the fact that that particular beer just really speaks to me.

But that's not the only beer I specifically seek out, year after year. There are a handful of limited releases, seasonals, and off-year releases that I am always scoping out and will pick up if I see them. I've been on the lookout for Boulevard's Saison-Brett for quite some time now. My brother Daniel had me looking for this bottle for about two years now. No place seemed to have it.

A saison is the generic name for a style of Belgian farmhouse ales. Like many kinds of beer, saisons started out as just something farmers brewed in the winter with excess wheat. This traditional style ale was brewed across Belgium. Historically, there was no real "declared" set of characteristics - rather, were just known as refreshing beers for summer. They varied in alcohol content, flavors, and ingredients.

Dan recently informed me that Boulevard had released their Saison-Brett a few weeks ago, and wouldn't you know it - the bearded beer-bros of D'vines in Columbia Heights hooked me up.

The Saison-Brett is an 8.5% ABV saison farmhouse-style ale. Only 4100 cases produced - that's 49,200 bottles in the world. I have two of them, or 1/24600th of the total product run. Yep - I just dropped some math on you. It's a limited release, for sure, and one that is eagerly gobbled up. A week later, I trekked to Whole Foods on P Street and found they were all sold out. Damn! But I nabbed two at D'Vines so I'm all set.

I decided to crack open one and see what all the fuss was about. I had a feeling this beer would be good for the following reasons:

1. Boulevard Brewing is good. I've had both their Grainstorm Black IPA and their Tank No. 7 farmhouse (I get that filled up in my growler from D'Vines...it tastes great on tap!) and I've enjoyed both of them immensely. I've had no reason not to trust Boulevard so far. There is definitely something to be said not for brand loyalty necessarily, but finding which brands brew beer the way you want it to be brewed.

2. I love saisons. There's something about a deep, malty farmhouse ale that always tickles my fancy. Belgian unfiltered whites are also a big winner for me, so this beer was right up my alley anyways.

3. Dan likes it. He's been around longer than I have, and has had a wider range of beer-tasting experiences, so I generally trust what he says.

So I popped it in the fridge and decided to give it a shot. The bottle lingered in the fridge for a few days as I finished up a busy work week, and on Saturday evening after returning from the office, I fetched my beer goblet, set it down, and got to work. Grabbed the bottle, undid the wire cork cage, and gently eased the champagne bottle-style cork out of the bottle.

Pop.

Yes, definitely some carbonation in there!

The pour was thick, foamy, and frothy. Heavy spice and malt notes wafted up from the beer as I poured it into the goblet. I let it sit for a few minutes, exposing the beer to the air and opening up the flavors.

The beer was delicious. On the first taste, there was a bit of an alcohol taste with lots of spice. The beer is murky but not bogged down with sediment. Definite strong wheat tastes here. Powerful but mellow malts with alcohol taste. The finish was deep, wet, and lush with nice notes of spice and a not-unwelcome taste of alcohol.

In short, Boulevard's Saison-Brett is the perfect farmhouse ale. Strong, flavorful, mellow. Not overpowering.  It's pungent, heady, and hits you hard. If you're a fan of these types of ales, definitely seek this out. It's worth it! I've got a bottle cellaring and I plan to open it in 2015.