Review 200!

Last Friday I head out to The Brew Kettle in Strongsville to celebrate both the start of Cleveland Beer Week and to review my 200th beer for Beer Advocate. This was my third visit toTthe Brew Kettle and each visit thus far has been great. They have 30 beers on tap, all of which are always high quality craft offerings. At least five of the taps are also dedicated to TBK's homemade brews and I have yet to taste one that hasn't been well done. I started off with their pumpkin ale on this visit and was not disappointed. The brew's description says this one is "just right" and I have to agree. The balance between spice and malt flavor is right on, with just a hint of bitterness in the finish. It is one of the better pumpkin ales I have had so far this season. The highlight of the night, however, came later in the night when the bar tapped a keg of TBK's Bourbon Barrel Aged Tunguska Imperial Stout. My full review of this delicious brew can been seen below. I should also note that TBK makes its own barbecue and has a smokehouse on premise. The menu highlights include a very well done chili and barbecue spaghetti, which substitutes pulled pork and barbecue sauce of the meatballs and tomato sauce. The pulled pork is lean and incredibly tender and mixes well with the texture of the spaghetti noodles. The Brew Kettle is definitely one of the better beer bars in the Cleveland area and is well worth a visit if you're in town.

My 200th review! 

I had the pleasure of tasting this beer on tap at The Brew Kettle on the first night of Cleveland Beer Week 2010. 

A: Came to my table in a snifter. Black as night with a thin tan head and some foamy lacing slowly sliding down the glass. 4.5

S: The the barrel aging really stands out. Lots of sweet vanilla, some dark fruit and coco nibs along with underlying suggestions of bourbon and oak. 4.5

T: Lots of chocolate, coco nibs, and raisin up front. The mid-palate transitions to strong suggestions of bourbon and oak. The sweet bourbon and booze flavor is just a touch overpowering, but the flavor is still very good overall. The tastes also balanced out a little more as it warmed. 4

M: Full, chewy, and a little sticky. Significant alcohol warming in the finish. 4

D: A great BBA stout overall - especially for a smallish operation like TBK. The flavor was just a touch unbalanced, but nothing to get really get upset about. And at $3.75/glass who can really complain? Probably the best price on a BBA beer I have ever seen.4


Overall: A-, 4.2

Styles Part III – Lagers

Welcome back my fellow beer drinking law students! I hope you enjoyed last week’s article about ales; hopefully you learned something new. This week we will take a look at the primary styles that fall under the second broad category of beer: lagers! Once again, the following list is ordered in what I believe to be the best progression to try these styles in. Remember that your palate will evolve over time, so do not write a style off because you try it once and dislike it. I could hardly stand some of my current favorite styles when I first tried them years ago!

Oktoberfest: ‘Tis the season for these medium to full bodied brews! Ranging from light brown to a darker copper in color, Oktoberfest style lagers a called Märzen (March) beers in Germany because they were typically brewed in March before it became too warm to make lagers. They were then stored in cellars until late-September, which marks the start of Oktoberfest in Munich. These beers are characterized by sweet roasted malts and notes of caramel. Hops add a minimal amount of bitterness in the finish. Popular representations include Sam Adams Oktoberfest and Great Lakes Oktoberfest. The German breweries of Pauliner, Ayinger, and Spatan also make traditional examples of the style.

Vienna Lager: These beers tend to be a little darker than the average Oktoberfest. Lightly toasted malts play a large role in the flavor and are accompanied by hints of candy sweetness. Hops provide a touch of fragrance to the beer’s aroma and also contribute some bitterness in the flavor’s finish. Sam Adams Boston Lager and Great Lakes Elliot Ness are good examples of this style.

Dortmunder Export: This is a fairly uncommon style in the United States. I only included it on this list because Great Lakes Brewing Company happens to make one of the few U.S. made representations of the style. These beers tend to be light to medium in body and pour a nice golden color. The aroma tends to center around hints of citrus and dried flowers, with fresh bread in the background. The flavors are more of the same, with a crisp, refreshing finish.

Bock: Bocks tend to have the fullest bodies in the lager family. They run in color from deep mahogany to near black and tend to be dominated by sweet malt flavors. Bocks cover a wide range of flavors, including caramel, dark fruit (grapes, plums, figs, etc), chocolate, and coffee. Hops are usually present only in quantities large enough to provide some balance to the wide array of sweet malt flavors. Sam Adams Winter Lager is probably the most well known example of a bock style beer in the United States. Anchor Brewing Company also makes a good representation of the style.

Double Bock: Double bocks are similar to regular bocks, except that they are made with twice the amount of malt found in a typical bock. This leads both stronger flavors and a more potent alcohol by volume. Germans sometimes bill Double Bocks as “breakfast in a bottle.” Notable representations include Ayinger Celebrator, Pauliner Salvator, Bell’s Consecrator and Sam Adams Double Bock. 

Pilsner: In many ways pilsners are the simplest of the lagers. They tend to be light in body and are made with fewer ingredients than almost any other beer. Hops tend to play a prominent role in their flavors, contributing notes of both citrus and herbs. The prominent role of hops in these beers also results in a zesty, bitter finish. Pilsner Urquel, Victory Prima Pils, and Sam Adams Noble Pils are well known pilsners.

Respect Beer!

Pumpkin Night!

I had a couple of interesting beer experiences this weekend. First, I went to the Winking Lizard in Coventry this past Friday to check out the new "glass of the month" special. This one was a real winner - a custom 1 liter winking lizard mug full of Spaten Oktoberfest for $9.25. A great deal if you ask me. Spaten's Oktoberfest pours a deep amber color, with notes of pleasant toasted malt and some bitterness in the finish. Spaten is one of only six German breweries authorized to sell beer at the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich each year. On a personal note, the spicy barbecue wings at the Winking Lizard are fantastic - I could eat them all night!

Being the first weekend of October, I decided it was time to start enjoying one of my favorite vegetables: Pumpkin! So this evening (Saturday) I picked up a bottle of Hoppin' Frog Double Pumpkin Ale and ingredients for pumpkin pie. The Double Pumpkin was a bit of a let down to be honest (for my full review see here). Perhaps my expectations were set too high after it won gold at Great American Beer Festival, but nothing about it really stood out for me. First impressions were not good - it poured with almost no head and looked flat (though it ended up being almost over-carbonated). The smell was better, featuring a good dose of cinnamon and the other typical pumpkin pie spices. The flavor was about average I would say - definitely some pumpkin and spice flavor, mixed with some generic sweet malt. In my opinion, however, a good pumpkin ale either needs to be in your face with delicious pumpkin pie flavor (ala Pumking) or achieve a good balance between spice and the more traditional beer elements - roasted malts and some subtle hop bitterness. This one really did neither - it was a little too sweet and unbalanced for my liking. I will admit by bias, however: I do not see how any pumpkin ale not named Southern Tier Pumking could ever win gold.

 Despite being a bit of a let down, I still enjoyed sipping on the Double Pumpkin over the course of the evening and it paired well with the pumpkin pie I baked. Come Thanksgiving time I'll write a similar post with my thoughts on how Pumking pairs with my dad's pumpkin pie. Happy October!