Breakfast Lager - Gordon Biersch

Gordon Biersch Brewing Co.

do you remember in the last review when I said it was Do the Right Thing hot? well, that was a couple of days ago. now, it's Backdraft hot. my office doesn't have air conditioning, as it was built to LEED standards, so we've hooked an elaborate combination of fans and duct work to circulate the air. the set-up is working, but with 20 plus computers in a small space, we're still running at 5C hotter than the outside world. with my job, I have to resist the day-drinking urge all the time as I finish the workday at 1pm. but, today the heat is forcing me to drink beer (...at 9am no less). the morning beer is something I usually attribute to camping, which normally consists of warm cans of whatever is leftover. today I magically found a Gordon Biersch Marzen Auburn Lager hiding in the back of the fridge. I think this appeared from a co-worker's recent move.

this Marzen has a very sweet nose from the malt and yeast, that give it a distinct aroma - a mix of honey and Marmite. it is WELL-hopped for a lager, with the bitterness balanced out well by the luscious malt. being stored in the back of fridge, the bottle is probably a few degrees colder than it should be, but it's the exact temperature I need right now. "as clean a lager as I have ever tasted", is how I described Krusovice Imperial Lager. if the Kruovice was clean, this Marzen sits on the other end of the lager spectrum, as the roasted malt finish and hops last and last. maybe not the session beer that the Krusovice is, but delicious nonetheless.

JT friend, Brewer Ben, introduced this beer to me a while back and told me that the brewer, Dan Gordon, was the first American graduate of a famous beer engineering program in Germany. a further look at the Gordon Biersch wikipedia entry, shows that Gordon Biersch also brews under contract for Costco and Trader Joe's. from a recent trip to Seattle, I can tell you that the Trader Joe's beer is ridiculously cheap. now that I know it's made by someone reputable, I'll be guzzling it by the six on my next visit.

B+

A Confession and a Drink Made For Tweens

alright, here's my confession. I made a Shandy yesterday. and I liked it. a lot. I know Big Love will be very disappointing to hear of this development, but it's been Do the Right Thing hot out this week and I was in need of a cooling bevvie to deal with it. the Shandy has been on my mind ever since it was suggested to a JT reader as an alternative to the high octane brews that her boyfriend prefers. my experience with Shandy's has been hit, miss & now hit again. the first one that I had was in a Pub in Wales or West England with my Grandpa when I was 14. I can't remember whether I actually enjoyed it, because I was just so excited that I was allowed to drink in a pub. Shandys served in the UK are almost always made from lager and lemonade. UK pub lemonade is lemon pop - Sprite and 7-Up are even considered lemonades. so, when I tried a Shandy years later, I turned up my nose and ordered an ale. I had had a Shandy made with lager and Jamaican ginger beer a few years back and have always remembered how good it was. so, when the thermostat hit it's peak and I was well into my second shirt, I knew it was time to forget about those English pub Shandys and make a stellar one.

the key to the Jamaican Shandy is the ginger beer rather than the lager, so I went with a decent quality one called Old Tyme. with the lager, you can go pretty cheap. I went with a Stiegl from Austria, as the tall boys were on sale. I tried a a couple of different ratios of beer to ginger beer. first, I went with the classic 50/50 ratio which was far too spicy for me- the punch from the ginger in Old Tyme is more of a haymaker than a jab. so, I added some more lager and got to a much more tolerable 75/25 ratio. the spiciness of the ginger played well off the sweetness of the lager. the two individual tastes never really meld into one, like a fruit beer might, but the result was nonetheless satisfying. after mixing in a nearby park and some shade under a tree, I was one rack of BBQ ribs away from a perfect summer day.

Beer Wars continued...

I never mentioned this in the last post, as it has to be seen to be believed. so, after trying every video editor in the books, I finally have the scene uploaded to YouTube. I need to get that 8 year old from the "I'm a PC" Windows ads to edit video for me. (I guess this would be considered a spoiler, as it comes at the end of the film.)

Beer Wars (... and a dissapointing Wheat Ale)

I decided to give North Coast's Blue Star Wheat Ale a second chance last night after being disappointed by the first tasting. the conclusion: this beer is not for me. I like refreshing Hefeweizens in the summer, but North Coast's wheat offering had few of the qualities that I was craving. there was little to no citrus aroma and it didn't have that classic banana taste of a wheat ale. this unfiltered wheat's most distinct characteristic was it's yeasty aroma and taste. unfortunately, it was absolutely middle of the road. North Coast was been nothing but good to me, so I'll let this one slide.

the highlight of the night was watching a pretty interesting documentary called Beer Wars. it looked at the command that the big 3 American brewers (now the big 2) have over the American 3 tier system of liquor distribution, their acquisition of store shelf space and how these prevent craft brewers from entering the market or expanding there current position. it brought quite a few issues to light that I had never really thought about before. it talked about how the multitude of craft breweries are shrinking the major's market share. so much so, that the bigs are trying to take back their share by putting out "craft beers" of there own. they usually buy out small craft breweries, shut them down, and then produce these "craft" beer in their massive breweries under the same name, compromising the quality of the original product. an example used was Green Valley Brewing's Organic Wild Hop Lager, which is actually just an Anheuser-Busch product brewed at the massive Bud brewery in Fairfield, California. the film itself was not the most effective doc I've seen, as it had a heavily biased stance to the little guy (which is like preaching to the choir). think Michael Moore, not Errol Morris.

other Beer Wars highlights include the interviews with craft brewers such as Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery. he appears throughout the film speaking of his love of beer, his love of turning people onto his beer, and his hatred of the big 3. Dogfish Head is widely respected as one of the finest and most unusual craft breweries in America. we get a good glimpse of Sam's brewing process and the history of his brewery. while shooting, he was in the middle of constructing a $9 million expansion, doubling his brewhouse from 50 to 100 barrels. this is probably a major reason why we are finally seeing some Dogfish products in Vancouver beer stores. while ever-expanding, Sam and the Dogfish crew maintain the brewery's 'mom & pop' appeal. there's a great scene where he answers a call from a drunk customer on the company's 1-800 comment line. he seems as happy to talk to her about beer as she is to drink it. so, if you're Dogfish day-drinking and have an itchy dialing finger, you might get to talk to a master brewer of a master brewery.

Black Hills' Nota Bene & Chateau des Charmes Gamay Noir

Black Hills Estate Winery
Chateau des Charmes

sometimes, I taste a beer or wine that changes the way I think about it's rivals. I ask myself, "why haven't I been drinking THIS all along?" Black Hills' Nota Bene is one such wine. unfortunately, the answer to my previous question, in the case of wine, usually comes down to cost. but, in this case it comes down to availability. the limited release of Black Hills' Nota Bene, mixed with it's exceptional quality and reputation, have ensured that this wine sells out every vintage. I'm lucky that the wine nerdiness of my friends Deanne and Bruce equates the beer nerdiness of Big Love and I. so deep is their love of good wine, they were motivated to drive to Oliver, BC purely on the rumour that the folks at Black Hills were to release a few more cases of their 2006 Nota Bene. the rumour was truth, and they picked up their maximum allotment of 2 bottles (1 /person). through family wine trading, they have acquired Nota Bene vintages from 2005-2007. back to this wine shortly.

along with being lovers of wine, Deanne and Bruce are lovers of good food. Bruce has been a chef in many high end kitchens around western Canada and on his day off from plating up hundreds of meals, he spent the day prepping last night's offerings. the first course consisted of slices of perfectly pan-seared duck beast, with an apple and fennel slaw and raspberry gastrique. needless to say, it was delicious. I brought over a bottle of Chateau des Charmes Gamay Noir, which I thought would go well with the duck. we served this Niagara Gamay slightly chilled for a change. this light-bodied wine poured much more purple and deeper than I was expecting. the aroma was very sweet - I smelled cherries and a little pineapple. the taste backed up those fruits along with something a bit spicier. I thought of incense or sort of a cinnamon taste. Bruce tasted anise. it definitely finished much more heaty than it's 13% ABV would suggest, however, it complimented the duck very well. the second course of our meal was a beefsteak tomato, fresh basil, and bocconcini salad that provided a refreshing break in between the meat courses and the wines.

onto this reviewers source of motivation. last night we opened a bottle of 2006 Black Hills Nota Bene to go with our main course of slow mesquite smoked prime ribs, crispy goat cheese potatoes au gratin, and local crisp asparagus - a suitably rich, indulgent meal for such a big red wine. as you can see from the pictures, the prime ribs were absolutely drool inducing - falling off the bone and candied with a rich, homemade BBQ sauce. the wine was decanted for about two hours and when it was poured it was a deep plum colour. the nose was jammy with notes of blackberries. the beautiful medium-bodied Bordeaux-style blend (Cab Sauv, Merlot, and Cab Franc grapes) blanketed my tongue with deep fruits initially and then hints of asparagus or some earthy vegetable. it was as smooth a wine as I have had. settling into this wine, tastes of smokey tobacco, some leather, and plum came through. the more we drank, the more these tastes married into one. this Nota Bene was obviously a wine highlight for my burgeoning palate and definitely worth taking note.

B Chateau des Carmes 2004 Gamay Noir
A+ Black Hills Estate 2006 Nota Bene

ACME California IPA

North Coast Brewing Co.

I have a unique job in that it is high stress yet performed in a low stress environment. I work with four friends that I've known for years, which makes the days in which I lose money easier to take. sometimes, I work from home. sometimes, I work from home and lose a bunch of money. this was one of those days. instead of commiserating with my friends over pints of Tennent's Lager & Boddington's at the pub below our office (...that's right, I work above a pub), I decided to do the at-home equivalent and scavenge my fridge for any leftover beer from last night's birthday celebration for Arianna. two beers left. the first, a bottle of North Coast's ACME IPA, was kindly left behind by The Tippler's own Big Love. the second, a can of Bowen Island Lager, left by Miran. it did cross my mind to crack the BI Lager as it seemed an appropriately cheap drink to be married with my losing day. but, that thought lasted a nanosecond and I reached for the ACME (sorry, Miran - and I can't guarantee that it'll still be in the fridge the next time you visit).

this is the fifth North Coast beer to be reviewed on The Tippler, which means that one-third of our reviews have been dedicated to this one Northern Californian brewery. after this IPA, there's only one more North Coast beer sold at my local beer store to be reviewed - their Blue Star wheat beer. North Coast has been the supplier of most of my beverages this summer, but this is my first taste of their California IPA.

as you can see in the photo, it poured with a nice half inch head and had a high level of carbonation right out of the bottle. both the head and carbonation reduced dramatically soon after pouring. this IPA's colour is beautiful - a blend candied oranges and honey is as best as I can describe it. the aroma is less impressive as the colour with spicy hops hitting your nose first and after I smelled something fresh like lakewater. yeah, I said it... lakewater. I'm talking about that nice first smell of a lake at the start of your two week holiday, not the dank, still, mosquito ridden stench you get by the end of it. there are strong caramel malts that hit you at first which are balanced out by some really nice finishing hops. like a good IPA, these hops linger like a bad house guest. I could still taste the hops from my first sip a good two or three minutes afterwards. on subsequent sips I couldn't really pick out any discernible tastes. the strong malts that I tasted at first seemed to be erased by the hops progressively quicker as the glass emptied. a nice heat came at the end from the 6.5% ABV. I'm not sure if I could make a night out of this beer, but the afternoon bottle that I enjoyed sure helped to ease the pain of a bad workday.

B

Krusovice Imperial Lager

Krusovice Kralovsky Pivovar

lately, my beer consumption has slowed down a bit to make room for some of the selections from May's Okanagan wine tour. of course, when my apartment hit the 30C mark on the weekend, my drinking hand extended to the closest beer in the fridge and not the half bottle of warm red on the counter. luckily, a Krusovice, the oft-mentioned bottle that was initially purchased to get The Tippler rolling, was still holding down the fort in the back of my fridge. my other find from the depths of the icebox, was a pack of tofu that had expired 3 days after my birthday... which was in March. in celebration of tossing out my fridge's only conceivably healthy item, I lit the BBQ and threw on some sausages - the anti-tofu.

I knew right away that this Czech Pilsner was going to be different. when I think of Pilsners, I think of the light hues found in Pilsner Urquell or in Budvar/Czechvar, but the Krusovice poured darker than these. it had very lively bubbles throughout the pour and lasted the duration of the bottle, although the head scattered quickly after the pour. the Pilsner had an aromatic, almost botanical bouquet. this would be from the Saaz hops that are used to brew Pilsners (...that's a fuzzy recollection from my U-Brewing days). the Krusovice Imperial was as clean a lager as I have ever tasted, which was probably enhanced by storing it at my fridge's highest setting. the hops were mainly present in the nose, with no bitterness left for the aftertaste. overall, the taste was quite sweet - not fruit-sweet, more like corn-sweet - and became sweeter as the beer got warmer. I hadn't heard the term "session beer" until I read Big Love's St Ambroise Pale Ale Review (although my liver seems to be very familiar with this label). if ever there was one, the easy-drinking Krusovice Imperial Lager is indeed a session beer.

B

Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale

North Coast Brewing Co.

In the back yard of the house in which I grew up was a little plum tree. Before the bears and racoons moved into the neighbourhood, the tree would bear more fruit than our family could harvest and consume, and plums would fall off the branches and pepper the grass around the tree. In the late days of summer, a younger me would play soccer in that back yard and the sweet smell of the fallen plums would be my constant companion.

There is a deep, sweet, over-ripe plum smell in North Coast Brewing Co.’s Brother Thelonious, named after jazz great Thelonious Monk, that takes me pleasantly back to this memory. It is complemented by roasted malt, burnt sugar and subtly spicy aromas. It pours a dark mahogany colour, with a smallish head and thick lacing.

The taste is deep, deep, deep—chocolate, burnt sugar, a teasing spiciness (not as strong and yeasty as in many Belgian-style ales) and, of course, those late summer plums. A rising alcohol warms and the finish is very sweet and very long for a beer with no strong hop taste.

Like all of the NCBC beers that I have reviewed, Brother Thelonious is complex and wonderful and masterfully created. Actually, I am getting tired of hearing myself gush over them but I think that they are really great beers. Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale is no exception.

A

St – Ambroise Pale Ale

McAuslan Brewing Inc.

The Quebec brewery’s flagship beer, this pale ale is clean and easy to drink, with a strong hop character.

It pours amber-red, with a healthy head and plenty of carbonation. It smells a little of honey and hops.

The malt is nice, but not very strong. This means that the finish is very hoppy. For me, the balance is a little off on this beer and I would prefer it with a stronger malt character to play off the hops. Having said this, there is nothing wrong with a hop-heavy ale, and this beer is really quite enjoyable.

It would be a good “session beer”, as they say. It is very drinkable and, let’s face it, sometimes drinkability is exactly what you want.

B