the.crooked Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 The watermellon beer is made by 21st Amendment. It's supposed to be a wheat with a subtle watermelon flavor. It's trash. As is Blue Moon. Had a Pre-Event Meeting with the Host and Manager of the restaurant the brunch is at. We tasted the full menu with their respective beers (or in two cases, a beer of the same profile). It was awesome. I hadn't realized my pallet was as refined as it is until I sat with some industry folk and actually had an easier time pulling out notes and flavor profiles from the beers' and their pairings. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to the actual event. This is the actual menu with pairings: 1. Bottomles Beermosas with Festina Peche and a spritz of orange juice We tried this with both orange juice and pineapple juice. The PJ ended up making it too bright and acidic. It was almost like the Cuvee de Ranke that I have talked about a few times. Almost as sour as a Gueze. So they decided to temper that by using OJ. Much better choice. At first it felt like a glorified brass monkey but ended up being a wonderful cleanser for the pallet between each course. This was served in champagne flutes, naturally. 2. Crab Cakes with a mild Remalade -- Linden St. Burning Oak Black Lager For this tasting we didn't have the Linden St. since they typically don't bottle their beers. We used a Shiner Black Lager (which while I do have love for shiner, this is not their best) and a prototype homebrew for Mata Veza. The guy who runs Mata Veza brought their black lager which was surprisingly good. It was a little stronger on the chocolate malt rather than getting some of those more smoky burnt flavors in the nose and mouth. However, with the crab cakes it was a nice match. The crab cake's saltiness complimented the viscosity and maltiness of the Lagers well. Finally, there was a piece of grapefruit with the crab cake that served not only to brighten up the dish visually but also provided a nice luminosity between the savory structure of the crab cake and the depth of the black lager. 3. Lemon Thyme and Roasted Shallot Custard with a Cubano Hash -- Mata Veza Yerba Mate IPA This match was fucking delicious. I'm pretty skeptical of hippy dippy brewing bullshit like the Yerba Mate IPA, but I'll be damned if this didn't work exquisitely. The lemon thyme custard was something I never would have thought of making, but it was a wonderful match to the subtle tea notes in the IPA. One of the other guys there made the observation that while the Hash and the Custard are well spiced, they still tend to overpower the beer after the sip. Rather, that you take a sip of the beer and the flavors of the food leave, but the moment the sip is washed down the flavors and extremely subtle heat of the hash came back. This made me realize what this dish reminded me of; coming from Texas I have had many a mid day snack with a nice refreshing glass of Iced Tea. That's exactly what this pairing was. The lemon from the custard and the refreshing yet submissive notes of tea from the IPA made this a wonderful mid dish in the menu. 4. Sourdough French Toast with Beer based Syrup and Pecans -- Moonlight Toast This was another Lager pairing, but it was wonderful. I wasn't looking forward to the french toast because I'm not a huge fan of sweet breakfast foods. A first sip of the Toast brought forth a fine nuttiness that was well suited to the bready creamy draught nature of it. After a bite of the french toast, the carmalization on the FT matched the burnt malt flavor of the lager perfectly. Even the pecans were present enough to play with the flavors of the beer. My only comment is that the syrup removed a lot of the flavor profile from the beer which was unfortunate, but not heavy enough to ruin the experience at all. 5. Chocolate Beignet -- Triple Rock Keyser Soze This was really interesting, actually. This beer is going to be a 15% ABV Russian Imperial Stout, but it hasn't been debuted yet. So, we had to use a North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin. I've talked about that beer before, and I imagine most people who care in here have had it, so I'll save the general description. I think what was so intriguing about this pairing was how much better the beignet was than I expected it to be. I imagined it to be very rich and almost too thick and sweet for the beer, but it was nothing like that. Light, fluffy and crispy as a beignet should be. Since it was only garnished with confectioners sugar it helped a lot too. It allowed the sweetness of the beer to shine through while providing a nice texture against the heavy oil like viscosity of the RIS. Instead of having either a honey or some sort of other traditional syrup for the beignet the Beer acted in its stead. I initially thought that for the more robust Keyser Soze that will be served on Sunday they would want a sweeter beignet, but it makes less sense. For beers that average above 10 percent ABV they tend to have a bit of an alcohol hotness to their profiles. If you have a food that is too sweet paired with something like the Soze, it will neutralize all the sweetness in the beer and leave the drinker with only the hotness of the alcohol. So to mask the alcohol in an unaged stout at 15% it only makes sense to keep the pastry light and almost savory. So that's it. That's pretty much how I'm gonna break these things down to the participants on Sunday. What yall think? I'll get flicks on Sunday. for the new page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veintiocho Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 dude, that was a hell of a review.. i'm gonna need to go back and dissect it piece by piece when I'm sober. But it was by far one of the best beer reviews I've ever been lucky enough to read. Good stuff, I always appreciete your posts.... do you post over at BA? You seem to have an amazing discerning palate, I'm sure your input would be valued over there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImChristeezy Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 anything lost coast but this shit is mmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shittles..TasteTheAsshole Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Drinkin some Lakeport Pilsener tonight. Buck a beer pretty cheap around here. Wish I had something better but it will do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shittles..TasteTheAsshole Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I'd prop you for that nice review but I think you're maxed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40oZ_fiEnd Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 For all my beer drinkers and 40 fans, peep the page and download AND/OR listen to "Bringin' 40's Back." Its an old song but love it for what it is! Olde English ALL DAY!! Have a good one yall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiliStCynical Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Starting tomorrow! http://sfbeerweek.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALIgula Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 hi lili! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiliStCynical Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Hi Cali! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALIgula Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 howve you been? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.crooked Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Lili- What events you goin to? If you've got 40 bucks to spend, I would totally suggest the beerrunch at Mrs Pearls Jam House. That menu up there is what's being served. I'll be wearing a purple tie and some Purple Supras, say hi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiliStCynical Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Cali, been chillin... laying low mostly. riding my bike. working a lot. what's up with you? when are you coming back to the city? Is that this Sunday or the 14th? I could come harass you on the 14th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiliStCynical Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Oh, and agreed, 21st Ammendment's Hell or High Watermelon is SHIT. I have tasted 1 good watermelon beer, that actually tasted like watermelon, at the GABF. The flavor definitely had a lot to do with the added lambic. Also just picked up these two yesterday. I've been on a malt liquor kick for the last week and needed something to break me out of the po' man's cycle. The Rev is an old favorite, and I'm excited to try this Kriek ale... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asthma al Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 king cobra night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALIgula Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Cali, been chillin... laying low mostly. riding my bike. working a lot. what's up with you? when are you coming back to the city? thats cool...ive just been studying. im coming back to the city, when i get invited back!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somethinglikethat Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 did a side-by-side tonight, aventinus '99 vs. aventinus 2009. The 2009 was spicy,estery, and yeasty. Delicious no doubt, but the '99 was syrupy and sweet and completely devoid of any yeast character. Very smooth, it had a distinct alcohol to it - I wonder if a beer can get stronger as it ages? Anyway it changed from a weizenbock to something more akin to an English barleywine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.crooked Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Lili- It's this sunday, short notice. Also, that Kriek is reeeaaaaally good. If you can get it (which you should be able to at City Beer) get their Cuvee as well. De Ranke is one of my favorite breweries these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fist 666 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I'll be wearing a purple tie and some Purple Supras, say hi. that is a very bold man. i miss beer so much. its only been 2.5 months since i had one. sigh. june seems so far away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veintiocho Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 We're supposed to get at least a foot of snow this weekend. Heading out soon to stock up on beer, frozen pizza, etc... pics to come of the haul. Anyone else notice how these huge storms usually hit on the weekend? Would've been nicer to get snowed in on a weekday. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHOP SUEY! Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 i want one of these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veintiocho Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 tonight's haul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shittles..TasteTheAsshole Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Interesting. What exactly is a bastardized ale? ^^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.crooked Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 veintiocho- try and get Weyerbacher's Heresy Stout. It's a beautiful thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fist 666 Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Interesting. What exactly is a bastardized ale? ^^^ i'm not a brewmaster, so correct me anyone if i'm wrong but my understanding is this a bastard ale is essentially an ale brewed with yeast put at the bottom of the tank, instead of at the top like a typical ale. they treat the ale-friendly yeast in the manner they would a lager-specific yeast. i'm surprised i can't find a good definition of it on beeradvocate.com--an awesome site and incredible source of beer and knowledge. lots of cool trades going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somethinglikethat Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 I don't think it's a term with one specific definition, which is why you're not finding one. I would take it to mean it's based on the particular style but by no means adheres to it perfectly, more of a hybrid. Perhaps that might mean using an ale yeast to make a traditional lager style (as in rogue dead guy, which is based on a mailbock), but I don't think that's the case here. They say it right on the package there, its a scottish ale with an aggressive hop profile, which is a break from the norm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shittles..TasteTheAsshole Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Thanks for the replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_gacy Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 Drinking this now. Save your $, not worth it IMO. I just saw a review of this that says the different flavors balance out the 9% alcohol, it doesn't. You get the scent of cherries as soon as you open it up, but one sip and you'll quickly realize that the 9% overwhelms any flavor, note, etc. Needs more cherry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veintiocho Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 shittles... sorry, I posted and then the power started blinking on and off... just got back to the thread. not sure why it's called a bastardized ale, but fist's definition is probably what it is... I haven't had too many scotch ales, but the ones I have tried have been very malt heavy, some have been smoky, rich, caramel flavored. this was really hoppy in the nose and up front taste-wise, but finished with a malty, sweet character. really well balanced, IMO. everything I've ever had from bear republic has been good so far, this is no exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veintiocho Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 veintiocho- try and get Weyerbacher's Heresy Stout. It's a beautiful thing. I'll look for it, thanks... trying to branch out from super hoppy stuff lately, as I think it's been overdone and can sometimes be used to mask subpar brews, so I've been trying a lot of porters, stouts, etc. lately. One of our clients at work is bringing me a few Founder's Breakfast Stouts this week, definitely looking forward to that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jense 1 Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 that noble pils is decent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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