Turning Trappanese

     Rejected names for this article:  "It's a Trap! ...pist" (someone thought of it already, obviously), "Out of the Frying Pan and into the Friar" (too long a vaguely dirty), "Drinking and the Hip Monks" (just too dumb, even for me), "Only you Can Prevent Florist Friars" (strangely unrelated to the content).

     Well, I'll be a Monk's Uncle.  There are just ten Trappist Breweries in the world, and just one of them is American.  The newest Trappist Brewers, the brothers of Saint Joseph's Abby in Spencer, MA, is Spencer Brewery, and they are focused solely on producing Spencer Trappist Ale.

     First, some quick tasting notes: first thing I get out the aroma is clove and breadiness.  The taste is banana, allspice, and a lightly peppery finish.  It has a medium mouthfeel, and a bit of hop bitterness on the back... but mostly this is a very solid beer.  It's not extravagant, but it's very well made.  If you want some more impressions on how the beer is, there's a lot of people out there who can do it better than me.  I'd rather focus on a couple other things.  Suffice to say it's a very good beer, but... dat price.

     A bit has been made about the (dat) price.  I paid $18 for a 4 pack, which breaks down to $4.50 per bottle... which run a bit smaller than traditional at 11.2 ounces.  Frankly, in most cases that is just too dang high for me, but I can kind of get it in this case.  Saint Joseph's has done a pretty amazing thing to be counted among the official Trappist Breweries of the world... assembling a dossier, travelling to Europe and learning the ropes, getting approval and following all the Trappist guidelines... and to get up and running, they built a state of the art brewery and hired on some proper help because they wanted to do things right.  Let's also keep in mind that Trappist openings, if you look at the current roster, average about 2 or 3 a century, so it seems even more unlikely that Massachusetts gets to play host to this slice of history that is Spencer Brewery.  And they're going to focus solely on making this particular beer and making it well.

     Yeah, there's an argument to be made that we're paying for the Trappist label, or that they're trying to recoup for that shiny new brewery and brewer too quickly.  I get that, and I know people who didn't buy this beer purely because of the cost.  For me, and maybe this makes the beer a novelty, but I don't mind paying for it once and being... well, kind of a part of history.  Then again, people have proven that they're willing to pay this price for the beer, at least for now, because it's sold out of most places it was allocated to.  My home bottle shop sold out in a day, during a snow storm.  I found it, of all places, at a Star Market... and I bought the second-to-last four pack.  Since the demand is there, Spencer has no market incentive to lower that high price.  At least yet.  We'll see.  But then again, I can't think of many examples of a brewery lowering prices once they've set MSRP, even if one of tenancies of Trappist Breweries is that they are not intended to be profit-turning.

     I'm just very interested to see where Spencer is going to be in a few years.  Maybe that's bad, because I don't think I'm alone in the camp of "I've tried it, and it was good but expensive.  BBL!".  But anyway, if a few years from now they're putting out some different styles, and their production warrants some price reduction based on making up costs with volume... well, it's going to be economically interesting (the best kind of interesting, amirite!?) to see how this all plays out.  Especially since (fun fact!) the "Authentic Trappist Product" label is good for exactly five years.  Has to be re-upped after that.  For now, yeah, it's a bit of a novelty... but it is kind of cool that there's but ONE Trappist Brewery outside of Europe, and we got it in our backyard.

    Eat it, Claude!

Pints from the Past

     Recently, I was inspired by another beer blog.  Norman Miller, who it feels funny to refer to as another beer blog writer because it implies we're playing in even remotely the same league (he's kind of a big deal), posted a blog about "Forgetting the Classics", in which he espoused the importance of revisiting the beers of your past, all while slightly admonishing himself for not doing so nearly often enough.  By the way, if the tacit plug for another blog (there's that comparative again) wasn't enough for you, you should be reading Beer Nut.  In fact, I'd go so far to say that if you're reading this regularly but haven't read Norman, you've got priority issues.

    Anyway, Norman got me thinking.  I've talked before about the beers that got me into craft, showing me there were wonderful things beyond the walls of the fizzy yellow water I thought beer was... but even though I can tell you all kinds or where and whats and exciting tales relating to these beers in the past, most of them I haven't had in quite a while.  So, I did something about it.  I went out and got the five beers I remember drinking the most from my formative craft beer years, and tasted through to see how my opinions about them might have changed.

    First up was Ringwood Brewery's Old Thumper, which I had more times at the venerable Coat of Arms in Portsmouth, NH than I could possibly count.  Of course, the version I had there was always on cask, so this was certainly a bit different.  Still, I figured everything would be close enough to count, and I'm not about to install a firkin in my kitchen.  Right off the bat, though, this beer was very different from what I remembered.  It had a cidery nose on it, which actually made me question if I had a bad bottle, but I couldn't really detect any fruit esthers in the taste, so I ruled out acetaldehyde (oh, go look it up).  There was some malty sweetness up front that mellowed out as the beer warmed, but it retained a very dry mouthfeel and a bitter aftertaste throughout.  I'd go so far as to say bad aftertaste, which I attribute to the Ringwood yeast.  I've picked up a distaste for Ringwood that I certainly didn't have lo those years ago.

    Next, I continued reliving my Portsmouth days with Theakston's Old Peculier, which I'm quite sure young Tim originally ordered based on the name.  While that's often not a great strategy in beer, and even worse in horse racing, this beer became a semi-regular order from me for a good window of time.  This was a lot more even a beer than I found the Thumper to be.  Good roasty caramel qualities, very smooth.  I didn't want to note anything about smell because even though I rinsed the glass, it still smelled of fruit esthers and Ringwood yeast.  The label noted Fuggle hops, which were either so mild as to be almost undetectable, or this beer is so malt forward that I didn't get much of it.  But don't get me wrong.  I found this to be very pleasant

   Back in my salad days (which, ironically, didn't include nearly as much salad as my current days) I discovered Wells & Young’s Brewing Company's McEwan's Scotch Ale quite by accident.  I remember distinctly ordering an Old Peculier and them being out of it.  The bartender recommended McEwan's instead, and I got hooked.  I also remember how sad we all were when the importer dropped the license for this beer, but the General Manager of The Coat of Arms got as much of this as he possibly could when that happened, so we got to enjoy it for a few months more.  In fact, I think we all drank a lot more of this from then on because everyone wanted to be the one to drink The Coat out of the stuff.  But enough story... on to the tasting.  First thing I picked up was, of course, sweet, sweet booze.  I remember this feeling heavier back in the day, but I didn't really getting any alcohol burn or overt "big"ness this time around... just sweet.  Both in smell and in taste.  Smell had some chocolate notes, as well as a nice oakiness.  The taste was a little less nuanced.  As it warmed, some caramel came out.  It was quite nice, but I remember this being a bigger deal for me.  I don't know if this is a slightly different beer than what was imported before, or if my tastes really have changed that much.

    So, just as The Coat of Arms was a very formative pub for me, so was The Barking Dog Bar & Grille in Amesbury, MA.  In the time I spent there, I can remember two beers I drank for more than any others.  The first of which was Abita Brewing Company's Turbodog, which simply had to be another case of me ordering something based on a cool name.  On this tasting, though, I found this beer to be the biggest departure from what I remembered.  Very powerful roasted malt smell, but a VERY thin mouthfeel, which is also contrary to my memories of it.  Being so big on mouthfeel as I am now, I can hardly imagine liking this as much as I did.  Some toffee flavor, but far less robust than I recall, too.  This tastes like what it is, basically... a somewhat darker version of a brown ale, and not one I'm finding myself loving so much any more.

    Up last is the beer that, more than any other, opened my eyes to the craft beer world.  Thanks to this beer, I also visited my first craft brewery... and it was all uphill from there.  I speak of course of Berkshire Brewing Company's Coffeehouse Porter.  For a change of pace, compared to my experiences with the re-tastes above, this actually had MORE coffee flavored than I remember.  But now I found that it had an almost syrupy quality to it.  Almost like a coffee extract rather than hints of coffee.  The smell and the flavor were almost too much at first.  As it warmed, it picked up a bit of sweetness that helped round it out a little bit... but it still straddled the line of too much.  Seriously, in the past I remember the coffee being barely detectable in this.  Either my palate has got way better, or they upped the ingredients.  I still quite enjoyed this, but it's very different.

    Of course, I suppose it would be kind of odd if these beers didn't wildly depart from how I felt about them in the past.  My mouth is a different person now.  But all in all, I found this to be a fun little adventure down beer-memory lane.  Oddly enough, I'm really good about revisiting beers I remember not liking to sort of challenge my perceptions and try to find things to appreciate... but I've clearly been lax in doing the same with old favorites.  And I would encourage anyone who's been drinking craft beer for long enough to pick up one or two (or five) beers you haven't had in a good long time and give them a go.  You'll probably be surprised, one way or another.  Your mouth is a time machine!  Use it!

On My Beerbox #5 - Blue Lobster and the Art of the Flounce

[EDIT:   So, more news has come out since I wrote this up. If everything that's come out this morning is true, it doesn't really change my opinion about Dave or Ian specifically, but certainly confirms any feelings I was playing "wait and see" with in regards to the owner of Blue Lobster. If the owner really thinks that's a proper way of doing business, boycotts won't be necessary because they'll be out of business in a year anyway.  Certainly, there's going to be plenty of patrons that will have no idea and no concern over what went on with this whole Sakolskygate, but these allegations, if true, just point to how poorly run this operation truly is.  I still believe a business can part with an employee for any legitimate reason they deem necessary for the growth or well-being of the business, but there's a certain responsibility to handle in a professional and forthright manner.  Just as water runs downhill, the behaviors and attitude of a business owner will eventually affect the customers... even the ones not paying attention to the behind the scenes.

I have decided to leave the rest of this article as originally written on Tuesday night.  Enjoy my mostly antiquated opinions!]

   And then some weeks, fate dictates what you're going to write about.

     Here's the short version of the story for those who haven't already heard the news.  David Sakolsky, head brewer of Blue Lobster Brewing Company, is no longer with that particular brewery.  There's a lot of speculation out there about what exactly went down and why based on past impressions people have of the relationship between the brewer and the brewery owner.  Both have played their cards relatively close to their chests in terms of official announcements, but the internet loves battle lines and the flouncing has already begun in earnest.

     Here's a slightly longer version, which I'll try to base more on what I've actually read with my own eyes and some (probably) measured speculation.  Monday morning, Blue Lobster took to the Facebooks to announce the "addition" of new brewer and recent UC-Davis Masters in Brewing graduate (the importance of this pedigree in a moment) Ian Browne.  At the time of announcement, there was nothing official about the "subtraction" of David Sakolsky.  That came about an hour later when David clarified the situation on his Twitter account, confirming he no longer worked for the brewery but teasing that he had big news.

     The things to know about David is that his pedigree and product were the engine that drove the beer geek community to love his work at Blue Lobster.  He was trained by Shaun Hill, the eponymous and legendary head brewer of Hill Farmstead Brewery.  David also was actively involved with the online community, which only endeared him to the craft crowd that much more.  Once it became official that Ian, a relative unknown graduate student, was replacing a Hill disciple and much-loved fellow beer geek brewer... well, just go anywhere and read the comments.

     Of course, it doesn't help that Blue Lobster has been running horrible PR over the whole incident.  As noted, the original announcement wasn't exactly transparent.  Now, in my opinion and all love aside for David or any brewer... breweries are a business.  If someone wants to go in a certain direction with their business, that is their prerogative, but people appreciate honesty.  Blue Lobster was not only accused of creating a mult account on BeerAdvocate that said some less than encouraging things about David (which the brewery has denied), but also accused of deleting comments on their later Facebook posts.  This one, I can actually confirm.  The first comment after the post went up last night asked why they were deleting comments.  The question, being a self-fulfilling prophecy, was deleted.  So have some later comments that noted this same fact.

     The venues for the community's emotional outlet for this story seem to slowly be closing.  While comments were being deleted from the BL Facebook, there was a bit of back and forth going on over at the BeerAdvocate thread for this story.  Of course, in the most typical BeerAdvocate move ever, the thread has been locked without explanation.  This is step up from their usual deletion without explanation.  Keep on shining, you crazy diamonds.

     Oh, but Reddit may have won this whole fiasco with this image:

     I can't endorse the sentiment behind that one just yet, but I can laugh about how quickly the internet makes hay.

     On a personal note, and I believe I've recounted this before, I've been pretty impressed with Blue Lobster right along, and the couple of times I got to speak with David only underscored the reasons he's getting so much love through all of this hoopla.  To speak of his beers, I found them to be unique for the Seacoast.  They were just well-made, and didn't rely on additives or gimmicks, as is all too often easy for a young brewery to lean towards.  The first time I ever went to Blue Lobster, David was very proud to point out the peach flavor in his IPA, or the creamy chocolate qualities of his stout, or whatever else about a beer I was drinking, and equally quick to note that he did not use any flavoring to achieve anything he did.  Just water, malt, yeast and hops.  Dude didn't even use lactose in a brew billed as a milk stout (but certainly had the body of one), Gales of November.

     As I'm flitting around the onlines looking for more insight as to the pulse of this situation, I can see one thing that restores my faith in the community.  Although people are flouncing like mad and shouting about boycotts, no one seems to be speaking any particular ill of Ian, who has the unenviable task of replacing David.  I'm of the mind that we don't really know what happened.  David clearly either has something else lined up, or is close to having some other opportunity... so perhaps this decision is more mutual than we know.  Of course, even if it is completely one sided, I'd still like to hope for the best case scenario... and that would be that Ian surprises everyone, all while David finds success in whatever he undertakes next, and then we'll have TWO great options for beer where we used to have one.

    

     My Blue Lobster howler (their name, for some reason, for a half-growler) is sitting next to my desk as I write this.  It will be filled again, and it's only at that time that I'll decide if there will be more refills or if I'll seek a return on glass deposit (but I can assure you that I won't put up an internet video of throwing it in the trash).  So here's hoping for success for both of these brewers, Ian and David.  Hopefully, the flouncers are just a very vocal minority, and we can all go back to judging beer based on taste instead of the politics of business, just or otherwise. 

Heady Christmas and Happy New Beer

     I don't know about you, but Christmas with family for me has always seemed to run along some kind of theme.  Parents, bless them, sometimes just can't figure out how to view your Amazon Wishlist (I kid, especially of my mom is reading this), so often they just go with the thing you're in to at the time.  I can still remember one Christmas when nearly everything I got was Star Wars related.  I'm talking extended universe novels, Micro Machines... even the dang Star Wars Encyclopedia.  And I'm not saying it wasn't appreciated, because now I know what Greedo was doing earlier in the day before Han shot first.

     As an adult, or a reasonable approximation thereof, Christmas has gotten understandably less ostentatious, but still has a tendency to run along themes.  Lucky for me, I'm into beer.  So is my brother, so between him and my parents, I picked up a tiny but very nice little beer haul.  Oh, and some Moonshine, Vodka and Sake, but this ain't a hooch blog.  Anyway, I just wanted to talk about a few of the literal beers of Christmas.  The beers I got as gifts and the beers I brought along to various holiday festivities.

    Let's start with Christmas Eve, which has become a traditional overfeeding and overdrinking session in my family.   There was an obvious bid in Yuletide beering with The Bruery's Six Geese-A-Laying, which sadly didn't really do anything for me.  I like Strong Ales and I like Belgians, but the latter I'm finding that I, 99% of the time only like when they're actually Belgian.  A lot of Belgian-inspired American beers leave a burnt candy sugar taste in my mouth, and the tartness of the berries in this one didn't really blend.  So I followed this with a new tradition (at least for me and my Uncle) of Brouwerij De Koninck's flagship De Koninck, which is a Belgian I can get behind.  Simple and (almost) sessionable.  But this was no session, and the coincidental Belgian theme continued with some of Brewery Ommegang's Three Philosophers (2008 vintage).  I've long loved Three Philosophers, but never had it with age.  My notes from that night don't add much nuance, but I must have really liked it because all I wrote was "dang".  Good work, Tim.

  There wasn't that much room in any of us Christmas Day, but we managed to fit in a few mimosas (mine had orange juice merely for color) and a shared bottle of this year's Goose Island Beer Co. Bourbon County Brand Stout.  This was my first time having regular BCBS, though I've had the coffee variant before and loved it.  Although this is a sipper, it went well with breakfast.  I'm definitely going to have to get better at finding this beer and age some of it, because just a few days after Christmas I got to try some of the 2009 vintage, and it had a very smooth upfront vanilla taste, which carried right up until it hit you with a steel chair made out of bourbon.

    Fun fact?  I originally intended this to be a very short blog, so let's speed right in to the beer gifts:

Throwback Brewery Fat Alberta Imperial Stout - One I've had before, but I found this batch to be quite a bit different than previous iterations.  It may just be that I'm used to bigger beers now, but I remember struggling to get through a bottle of this before (and enjoying it, I assure you), whereas this time I could have done with some more.  I also found the peanut butter flavor to be less pronounced, but when it comes to me and peanut butter, I can never have enough.

Mikkeller Milk Stout and Beer Geek Brunch Weasel - I did a side-by-side of these for comparison's sake.  The Milk Stout has a pretty complex and rich, roasty flavor, and is just an incredibly well put-together beer.  It clocks in at 6%, but tasted like it was a bit higher than that.  I found a similar theme with the Brunch Weasel.  This one is nearly 11%, and the booze in this was so hot I could have sworn there was some kind of pepper additive in here.  It still had the nice oatmeal mouthfeel, but a lot of the other flavors were overpowered for me.  Not to say I didn't enjoy both, because sometimes you want a big beer... and for me, that sometimes is pretty often.

Marshall Wharf Brewing Co. Cant Dog Imperial Pale Ale - This was the surprise of the season for me.  I had never heard of this beer, and I don't think I've had anything from this brewery... but I'm buying a truckload of this next time I see it.  In a time of year where I subsist on porters and stouts, lo, a Pale.  A downright juicy, tropical fruit flavor-filled Pale.  It's style I don't always seek out, but between this and Maine Beer Company's MO, an entire state's brewing industry is making my ignorance show.

    Of course there was a lot more beer shared around the holiday, including a surprise gift of Jack's Abby Pro-Am Pilsner from one of my roommates (I know!  Cool roommates, yeah?) and some proper glassware from the 'rents (actually, desperately needed proper glassware), but this blog, like this season of joy, must come to an end.  Seriously, one day I'll write shorter entries.  I'm chatty.  It's a double-edged sword.

    What beers did you enjoy around Christmas?