Rogue - Chatoe Rogue First Growth Dirtoir black lager

Dan recommended this beer to me last year, and it took me a while to find it - Rogue Ales' 'Chatoe Rogue' First Growth Dirtoir black lager. This beer is a 6% ABV black lager that's part of Rogue's Chatoe Rogue series.

Chatoe Rogue is a special division of Rogue Ales that focuses on locally-grown ingredients - specifically, ingredients grown on Rogue's plantation. Chatoe Rogue is also Rogue's B&B.

As I understand it, after a hops shortage Rogue decided to buy some farmland and grow a lot of its own ingredients. This, of course, would presumably also be a benefit to Rogue as it would give the company a chance to have total control over the ingredients that go into their product. For your edification, "GYO" stands for "Grow Your Own."

The beer had a black pour, as expected. The thick pour produced dark foam - darker than most I have seen. Interesting.

The head subsided very quickly. There wasn't really any lacing.

The nose is very pleasant - very good mix of chocolate, nuts, and spices. The nose was very rich and frankly, I like that. It's a sensory experience and was definitely indicative of the taste to come.

The mouth is very chocolaty. It was smooth, deep, and delicious with lots of roast hops and chocolate / nut flavors. It reminded me a lot of Ministry of Beer's "Beer of Socialist Labor." Both beers featured a low-carbonation, deep-tasting, smoky brew with hints of toasted caramels and malts. However, unlike the Beer of Socialist Labor, the Dirtoir had an oddly thin taste. I understand that general black lagers have a thinner consistency that stouts, but for some reason I expected this beer to be a bit heartier. It was similar to Uinta's Baba black lager in terms of consistency. Nice taste, but oddly thin.

The aftertaste is one of dark chocolate and some of the burnt hops that I really don't like. The finish was a bit harsh with lots of burnt tastes.

In conclusion, this beer is OK. It's a bit thin but drinkable, enjoyable, and typical for a lager. While it wasn't the best of its type that I have had, it has depth - a dark sweetness that makes it very nice and paired with its consistency and taste - and could work very well for a session beer or even something to sip over dessert. I can imagine pairing chocolate eclairs with this beer. I wonder how it ages, and whether sitting it down for a year or so might do it some good.

Stone Brewing Co. - Espresso Imperial Russian Stout

As you can imagine, I'm always on the lookout for new beers that I can try. One of my favorite go-to breweries is Stone Brewing Company out of Escondido, California. Stone hit the East Coast a number of years back and I had the pleasure of trying many of the beers they produced. Stone's Smoked Porter ale, Vertical Epic limited releases, and Old Guardian barleywine all were big winners with me. In my opinion, Stone always manages to brew delicious, well-rounded beers and I don't think I've run across one that I didn't like.

So in my weekly scan of the Whole Foods beer aisle, I noticed that Stone had a new (to me) beer - the Imperial Russian Stout.

On closer examination, I determined that (like the Old Guardian line) they had two yearly releases: a Classic Release (the Imperial Russian Stout) and the odd-year release (for 2013, the Espresso Imperial Russian Stout.)

As you may recall in my Old Guardian post, when releasing usual-run beers (that is, beers that they produce year after year) they may experiment with the formula and produce two or more variants. In this particular case, both were next to each other on the shelf, equally priced around $8. I picked up one of each, and will be reviewing the Espresso odd-year release now. Some other time I'll try the classic release, a bottle of which is currently cellaring in my apartment.

As you can see, this beer poured brownish-black and had a slight foam to it. I poured out about 85% of the beer into my tasting glass and swished the remainder around in the bottle to foam up. It held on to a khaki-colored head that subsided after a few minutes.

The pour was thick and slow, with a muted chocolately-smooth nose. This beer smells great out of the bottle and as it warms up, the nose really opens up nicely. Nice!

After letting it warm a while, I tried some, and I must say, it's excellent. I was impressed by the smoothness of this beer. Nice coffee / espresso tastes up front. The overall body of the beer (and more importantly the finish!) was very smooth, buttery, with warm chocolate notes. It wasn't thin or harsh, but very nuanced, full and warm with just the right notes of toasted hops and malts.The aftertaste was full and pleasant, with no flavor lost at all. Good delivery, good flavors, and well balanced. I couldn't have asked for more in a Russian Imperial Stout.

Truthfully, the key here is that this beer is not bitter. So many imperial stouts get caught up in that heaviness and roasted malt / hops flavors (and yes, I know, these beers are supposed to have SOME of that) but when it's overdone, the beers turn out almost undrinkable. Fortunately for this one, the blend is just right. It really was a pleasure to drink.

These kind of beers, while traditionally intended for the winter, work fine any time of year. And especially this one - because of its rich, smooth feel and well-blended flavors, it is appropriate whenever you want to drink it. And I can definitely recommend this beer to novice drinkers, as the flavor is very approachable. If you happen to see one, grab it (it's only $8) and enjoy! Or, if you're patient, pop it on your bottom shelf for a few months. Some blustery cold night, pop this in the fridge and enjoy! I bet this would go great with a slice of pecan pie.

Bodega Familia Schroeder - 2011 Deseado torrontes

Today's review is outside of my usual realm - I'll be reviewing a white wine. It's not that I am not against white wine, I just don't drink it very often because I don't like the flavors. I also am allergic to fish, so I don't often eat dishes for which white wine would be an appropriate pairing. There are a few whites, however, that have struck my fancy and I acknowledge that there are good white wines out there.

Today's wine is one such wine - a Patagonian sparkling torrontes grape that longtime friend and wine merchant Charles Bissell of Charles Fine Wines recommended. The wine is from the Argentinian winemakers Bodega Familia Schroeder and weighs in at 10% ABV, so a little weaker than a typical red. I got this bottle on special order, and it cost around $20 for the bottle.

Torrontes is one of my go-to whites and definitely a summer white. It's sweeter than a chardonnay but lacks the caustic taste that a lot of sparkling white wines have, which makes it the #1 choice for me when entertaining or choosing an afternoon wine. Since this white is meant to be served cold, it's also a great choice for hot days at the beach or yard parties. I drank this bottle over my vacation at our beach cottage.

The wine comes topped with a muselet, also known as a champagne wire (also known as the twisty wire thingy that holds the cork in.) The cork came loose with very little effort and issued forth from the neck of the bottle with a satisfying POP.

The carbonation was high - lots of little bubbles shooting to the top of the wine from inside the glass. The color was greenish-yellow (the picture does not do it justice) and there wasn't really any nose at all except for a slight whiff of sugar.

This wine was very sweet and heady with lots of sugared apple tastes. Sugar is really the dominant taste here, which is okay, because it's not overly sweet. Some wines overdo it but this one manages to maintain a firm, sweet taste while delivering apple flavors. The finish was crystal-clear and surprisingly, the wine had no aftertaste.

Naturally you need to refrigerate this and get it nice and chilly. It's best when served cold and is very refreshing as such. This wine would go great at the beach, on its own (how I drank it), or paired with some cheese and crackers. Alternatively, you COULD pair this with a light salad if you wanted to, but easy on the dressing and fruit. You don't want the sugars in the food to mess with your wine!

Stone Brewing Company - 2011 Old Guardian Belgo

As you may recall, I have a thing for barleywine ales. They're (usually) sweeter and (almost always) stronger than most ales, and the variety of ales and brewing methods used can make for some pretty unique variants. Quite a few brewing houses have gotten into the game, so to speak, with varying degrees of success. Southern Tier makes a fine barleywine as I have noted in the past; Stone's Old Guardian is the quintessential barleywine. Other less-successful barleywines I have tried include 21st Amendment's Lower de Boom, which was expensive and sour. Beer can be hit-or-miss in general, but for specialty niche beers like today's review, it is particularly the case.

Today's review is a rather special review, as I delved into my cellar and found a 2011-vintage Old Guardian Belgo barleywine. I bought this beer in the summer of 2011 and it's been in my collection ever since.

Every year, the Escondido, CA-based Stone Brewing Co. releases two kinds of their Old Guardian barleywine: the classic release and an odd-year release. The classic release is, well, classic and simple. The odd-year release is a second version of the ale, made with different ingredients and using different methods. It's meant to be an experimental take on the Old Guardian and oftentimes yields very interesting results. For example, this year's odd-year release is aged in oak-smoked barrels.

The 2011 off-year release, of which I have several currently cellaring, is 12% ABV barleywine made in a Belgian style. This is rather unique and has been cellaring since 2011, so the strength of the beer coupled with the fact it's been in my basement for two years means it's probably closer to 14% ABV by now. The beer itself is made with Belgian yeast and is intended to have a lighter, maltier flavor than its twin brother. Naturally, here at Sip and Puff we do not take such hearsay lightly and simply must try these things for ourselves.

My brother Dan and I cracked it open on a hazy summer day at my mother's beach cottage in Connecticut, where I am taking a (brief) vacation.We opened the bomber of ale and let it sit for a moment before pouring it into burgundy glasses (yes, we do not have a full range of tasting glasses down here at the beach, so we have to make do.) The beer had very little carbonation, almost still, and the nose was fruity, pungent and full. Wow! It was very potent and we knew we were in for a treat.

There was very little head to this beer, and once it settled down there was no lacing or foam to speak of. It was almost still, thick, and was throwing off lots of fruity notes right there in the glass.

Look at that color! It's a hazy reddish-amber when held up to the light. Dan calls it "neon Thanksgiving turkey."

It almost looks like wine, which is a coincidence because it's a little bit like wine.

The first sip was sublime. This beer definitely aged well, and as a result was very strong. The taste was very full, powerful, and fruity with a strong, heady delivery. Lots of fruit tastes and sugar tastes here. The flavor was strong, fruity, malty, with a nice lush finish of fermented hops. I really liked it! It was strong, too, so each gulp took a few moments to process.

Unlike the regular Old Guardian, the Belgo is a little more subdued and not as sweet. My experiences with the Old Guardian line in the past have been positive, for sure, but I find that the Belgo is a lot more mellow and a little less sharp than the regular line. This may be a function of the Belgian yeast used or a function of the two and a half years it spent cellaring. Or both!

The Old Guardian is readily-available and released every year. If you are interested in a stronger beer with an unusual taste profile, I'd give it a shot. This beer also cellars very well - meaning that you can pop it in your basement or closet and let it age for a couple months to a couple years. Only certain beers can do this. When you age a beer, it may get stronger in alcohol content and the flavors will change slightly. It's a fun experiment, but if you choose to try it out, do a little research first and make sure that the beer you want to put away is OK to cellar. This one is great for cellaring, but also great for drinking now! I wouldn't pair this beer - just drink it on its own. If you positively absolutely do-or-die had to put some food with it, I'd try a charcuterie with a side of dates.

Uinta Brewing Co. - Baba Black Lager

This past weekend I decided to crack open one of the brews that my brother sent to me for my birthday. As you may recall, he sent a ginormous box from Seattle filled with various West Coast / Rockies beers, many of which are not distributed in the mid-Atlantic region.

Today's review is of the Baba Black Lager, a 4% ABV black beer (or, more accurately, a schwarzbier)  brewed by the Uinta Brewing Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. Also, for the record, I am well aware that Utah is not precisely on the West Coast.

Organic, kosher, and brewed using 100% renewable power, the Baba is released in bottles and cans. The color of the pour is black, as the name suggests.

Courtesy 20th Century Fox

The pour out of the can was quick, surprisingly - many dark beers are often slow and thick so the quickness of pour surprised me. As you can see, there was a khaki-colored head that was very foamy. The beer laced the inside of the glass very well and the nose was of mixed malts, deep roasted grains, and chocolate.  There wasn't a lot of carbonation to this beer, which I frankly like. I've had too many over-carbonated beers in my time to dislike them. That's also why you will find very few, if any, sparkling white wine reviews on here. Your intrepid blogger does not like burping carbonation through his nose.

The taste didn't disappoint at all. Baba had a nice clean lager taste, which I wasn't expecting. There were no traces of burnt anything, no dark smoky flavors, but a deep clear smoothness. It's also a little bit sugary, too, which is nice. All the flavors were subtle and clear - I keep using that word - with no traces of nastiness (technical term) or unneeded flavors. I tasted a bit of chocolate and warm malt flavors with some smoke in there, too. The finish was smooth with very little aftertaste, and no flavors lingered on the palate.

It's kind of unusual, in my opinion, but in a good way. I was pleasantly surprised. I guess that's where the "lager" comes in - it's not a porter or a stout so it doesn't have that gravity associated with it. I would heartily recommend this to anyone looking for a dark beer but not looking for roasted / charred / singed / burnt / toasted / burnt-to-a-crisp hops flavor.

The light and dark tones of this beer make it exceptionally drinkable and I could see myself having this beer on hand just to enjoy. In addition, the fact that the beer pours and drinks like a lager makes it appropriate for summertime enjoyment as well - a time when most stouts and porters are relegated to the cellar to age for wintertime. The more I think about it, Baba might be a good introduction to beer novices who might be used to lighter fare - folks who might be reading this who aren't into beer. Naturally, I can definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good sessional beer. Baba is fine on its own, but could work well with desserts particularly. I'm imagining a nice chocolate pudding, or perhaps some chocolate eclairs.

As far as I know, Uinta is available on a limited basis here on the East Coast. I've never seen their stuff but SeekABrew says they are available out here, so who knows. If you see the Baba black lager, give it a shot!

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.