Kent Falls Brewing Co. - "Coffeemaker" pale ale

OK, here's an unusual beer I had a while back - a coffee pale ale from Kent Falls Brewing Co. Brewed with wheat and Kent Falls house Brettanomyces yeast, this 5.60% ABV beer also includes a dry-hopped Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee from Sacred Grounds coffee shop in Sherman, CT.

According to Kent Falls' website, the idea is to focus on the flavors of hops independent of bitterness. Naturally, most beer drinkers associate more hops with a more bitter profile; this of course isn't always true and Kent Falls has sought to highlight this. This is batch #5, with the previous four batches made with coffee from Irving Farm Coffee Roasters in Millerton, NY.

It pours a hazy, dull yellow - unusual for a coffee beer. Interestingly, it's very dry, presenting some some juicy flavors, but mostly crisp - like pear and green apple. It even has some notes that remind me of a very crisp saison. I'm also detecting a bit of funk, which is of course that Brett yeast coming through. Overall a light and crisp pale ale, and refreshing. Only one pressing question:

Where's the coffee? 

I don't detect a single note of coffee throughout the entire thing. I gave some to my brother and mother - same story. I understand that the point is not for the beer to present typical hop flavors, but I would have liked at least a little hint of the winey, earthy flavors present in Ethiopian coffee. But no such luck. I think in terms of depth of flavor, this is on-par with the "Lade Øl", the other Kent Falls beer I tried a few years ago. Light, soft, and generally timid. I appreciate the craft, and these kind of soft beers can be good but personally I'll need a little more flavor to really capture my attention. If you like your saisons on the dry side and don't mind not having any coffee in them, then give this a go. If you're looking for something with stronger flavor, perhaps look elsewhere.

Brouwerij de Halve Maan - 2018 "Straffe Hendrik Xmas Blend" quadrupel

After many hours toiling away at D'Vines this holiday season, it's time to kick back with an 11.00% ABV oak-aged quad from Brouwerij de Halve Maan. This brewery, which means "Half Moon Brewery" in Flemish, makes the famous Straffe Hendrik family of beers. You may recognize the green label and an old guy moon face on the traditional Belgian bottle. Well, today's beer is their seasonal variant - the 2018 Christmas Blend. Merry Christmas!

Pours a deep reddish brown in the glass and generates a minor Flemish aroma - a bit like lactobacillus nose (like vinegar). Sounds good to me!

OK, I like this a lot. To me, it seems like a blend of three separate styles of beer - an oak-aged strong ale, a caramel sugar-infused Belgian quad, and a sour Flemish ale. Each of these three styles contributes in some way to the beer:

1. There's a serious undertone of oak paired with a syrupy texture reminiscent of a barleywine or "old ale." The oak aging really comes through in flavor, and it likewise imparts a certain texture and heaviness...as you can see, it has low carbonation and practically no head. Just like an old ale might. 
2. The sugars in the beer taste like caramel and brown sugar, so definite Belgian there. Not a lot of Belgian spice, but a tad. The caramel flavor really does it here. 
3. Finally, there's hints of that lactobacillus sourness that will be familiar to fans of the Flemish sour style. But - unlike some Flemish sours which really lay on the vinegar-like sourness, this beer has just a hint of that. Mostly on the finish. 

What's most particular is how evident all three "components" are. The spice and sugar marry well with the heavy, oaky texture of the barleywine and the Flemish sour adds a nice touch. Combined, these three things make an excellent winter ale, one definitely worth the $14 for a 750mL. Pick this up while it lasts!

Goose Island - "Bourbon County" wheatwine

It's that time of year again, and Goose Island's vaunted "Bourbon County" line of beers has hit the shelves! This is the brainchild of Goose Island master brewer Greg Hall; according to the brewery website, a chance encounter with the late Booker Noe, distiller at Jim Beam, gave birth to the Bourbon County stout - the world's first beer aged in bourbon barrels. Fast forward twenty years, and the beer has gained a cult following and has spawned several variants, including today's.

This variant is a 15.40% ABV wheatwine, and the first non-stout in the BCS series. But what is a wheatwine? It's a style of strong beer made from wheat malt, not grapes as the name might suggest. It's similar to barleywine in terms of strength, and although I've never had a barrel-aged wheatwine before, I imagine the style might lend itself to barrel aging quite well. Let's give it a shot.

Ok, big boozy aroma right out of the glass, with big notes of caramel. Nice, nice. Lovely color, too. Generates practically no head and has no fizz.

Wow! It tastes just like bourbon on ice. Slightly watered - hence the on ice part - but this beer REALLY picked up those bourbon barrel flavors. Vanillins from the wood impart flavors of oak, caramel, and toffee, and are the dominant flavors by far. There flavor is smooth yet full, although I'm not really picking up much of the bready sweetness that is typical to the wheatwine style. I like that this beer is medium-bodied, too - it's not syrupy or thick.

This is definitely a beer meant for bourbon hounds. It costs roughly $15 for a 22oz bottle, so not super cheap but not overpriced either. The other variants, including a midnight orange stout, retail for about $23, so keep that in mind. But if you're a fan of bourbon and want to try a very boozy bourbon beer, look no further.

Siren Craft Brew - 2014 "Odyssey 001" imperial stout

I was at Churchkey recently for a work event and decided to dip into the rarer Reserve menu for a fancy drink (don't worry, on my own tab.) Aside from their normal (vast) array of beers on draft, they also have an extensive bottle list including some rare and vintage beers. Today's is one such beer; I was looking for an aged stout to kick off the night right and it was a choice between this and Founders Kentucky Breakfast stout, 2017 edition. I opted for this since I'd never had it nor anything by the brewery.

This beer is called "Odyssey" (or "Odyssey 001", as listed on the menu) and is a respectable 12.40% ABV imperial stout made by Siren Craft Brew in Berkshire, England. It's aged in three kinds of barrels - Banyuls (a French fortified dessert wine), brandy, and bourbon. I've had all three of these spirits before, and all can be sweet - particularly Banyuls. So maybe this will be sweet?

It's actually not sweet. It's very, very soft. I'm detecting some chocolate flavors straightaway, and as the beer develops, I can taste some undercurrents of espresso bean and deep, rounded wood flavors - only possible with years of aging. Very milky mouthfeel, almost like it's on nitro. Very neat. It's surprisingly medium-bodied, has a super clean finish, and lacks any oiliness whatsoever. It's almost too soft for me, and at $30 a glass, I'd like to see the flavors a bit more lively for something this expensive. I wonder what this costs new; would be neat to grab a few bottles maybe in the $10 range and then sit them down for a few years, given what I know now about how it ages!

Black Slate - 2009 "Porrera" Priorat red blend [Spain]

It's time to dive deep into the furthest reaches of my long-term wine storage to find some bottles that need drinkin'. Today's is one such example; I reckon I got this from Charles Fine Wine in 2010 or 2011, at the height of my "investment wine" phase. At that time, I'd say I probably bought two fancy bottles, per month, to store and drink later. A good portion of retail wines aren't usually meant to be aged past two or three years (some tannin-heavy wines could have a maximum shelf life of about ten years) so it's no surprise that I've already had the chance to drink most of the ones I purchased.

Except for this one! This is the oldest one in my cellar - a vintage 2009 red blend from Black Slate, a winery located in the county of Priorat in the Tarragona province of the autonomous region of Cataluna in Spain. Located just to the south of Barcelona, this small yet robust winemaking region has a DOQ, a parallel to France's AOC, America's AVA, and Italy's DOC. Awarded in 2003, Priorat DOQ is only the second in all of Spain after Rioja - Denominaciono d'Origen Qualificada in the Catalan language.

This wine is a three-way blend of Garnatxa Negra (black Grenache), Carinyena (Carignane), and Cabernet Sauvignon, grown in a rocky soil called "Llicorella". This relatively acidic soil is made from broken-up slate, hence the name of wine, and it's known to impart mineral and earth notes to the wine. So once these grapes were harvested, they spent a 30 day maceration in tank and concrete vessels, then aged for a year in French and Hungarian Oak barrels.

Regarding the age - given previous I fear this is another entry in the "James left this in his cellar too long" category, but when I bought this back in 2011, Charles indicated it was good through 2018. He's the expert, so I'll give it as shot.

Wowzers, look at that color. The bricking - or the color change from red to brown at the wine ages - is really quite evident here.

OK, wow. The time spent in the bottle has definitely made its mark, with most of the fruit having dropped out. It's soft but very silky, with some elements of minerals and leather, but lacks any juice or jam whatsoever. A touch savory, it's actually a bit like port - my brother Dan says it's like a "dessert pinot" - slightly sweet and mostly dry. But unlike the Burgundy we had with Thanksgiving, this wine has lost its sweetness due to aging, not due to a particular style.

There was discussion at the table about this being too soft; I think the softness is fine, and frankly, it was a good time to try it. I would say that this wine has reached its peak of aging, and that any longer might have negatively affected the flavor. Alcohol acts as a preservative, so there's no danger in this wine going bad - the only issue is how the flavors might age.

Anyways, I'm pleased with a result. Most of the wines you see in the store, and most of the ones I have in my cellar, can't be aged this long, so it was cool to try something old (and not disgusting!)