Upslope Brewing Company Craft Lager

Upslope Brewing Company from Boulder, Colorado was a new name to me as I perusing the refrigerated cases at the liquor store in Steamboat Springs. My knowledge of Front Range breweries runs toward the Denver metro and ends about there and as a non-resident I am not too unhappy with that performance.

Started in 2008, Upslope Brewing has a year-round lineup consisting of five beers and a rotating lineup of special releases. One of the year-round beers is Craft Lager:

It’s a light lager with middling alcohol (4.8% ABV) and almost no bittering (15 IBU). When it’s cold it goes down easy and that is about all that you remember.

Utilizing a mild hops like Saaz for such a small amount of bittering leaves little aroma or non-bitter flavors to be exhibited. A light lager seems like a perfect blank canvas to experiment with some subtle flavors that might get lost in a beer with a more malt heavy body. I have seen this style used to showcase rose hips, ginger, peppercorns…the list goes on for a while. Some of these experiments were successful and others were less so. Some were even non-qualified disasters.

This beer was inoffensive to the point of being boring. It’s really no different than a hundred other lagers out there. If what you want was the bare minimum in beer flavor just pick the cheapest option out of the cooler and call it a day. This lack of any character is actually something that experts think is afflicting the German beer market. Sales of beer and consumption have fallen a lot recently. Experts peg the reason being the wide proliferation of a few similar styles of beer. Basically, beer is boring in Germany and consumers want something with a little excitement.

I was hoping that after a good experience with Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils that I would feel warm and fuzzy about lagers. It was just not to be:

As a note, Upslope Brewing Company has committed to donating 1% of the revenue from Craft Lager to Colorado Trout Unlimited through the 1% for Rivers Campaign. If you are into that sort of thing.

Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils

I have been harsh to lagers lately. Most of the lagers I try leave my palette with an off taste that is not quite burnt. It’s not musty or soapy either. It’s just an odd flavor that makes me want to pour the beer out and grab the nearest pale ale.

Since I was such a fan and consumer of Dale’s Pale Ale while in Colorado I brought home some Mama’s Little Yella Pils:

What is this liquid masquerading as a lager? It has none of the bad traits I associate with the breed. It, dare I say, drinks smooth like my favorite ales. What alchemy have the brewers at Oskar Blues conducted to create such a monster?

First off, this beer is true to style meaning that it does not employ the use of so-called “adjuncts” like corn and rice. Say what you want about corn and rice in beer, but the traditional recipes used in Europe do not call for the ingredients. These beers also do not use a lot of the ingredients modern American brewers are using to craft stunning beers—yes, I am looking at you Surly Coffee Bender.

Second, the hop bill consists solely of Saaz hops. This is a very traditional hop for pilsners and seems more in place in this style as opposed to more common American craft beer hops like Cascade, Centennial, or Willamette. A pilsner lager is normally an easy drinking beer—hence the use of this style as the backbone of American light lagers that are meant to be consumed in units measured by 24 cans—so a potent hop really interferes.

The end result is a “smaller” beer that begs to be quaffed. I came home from a three hour long hike with my daughter and enjoyed a beer on the patio as the sun was setting. It fit the moment perfectly.

This all kind of surprised me because Oskar Blues is known for being on the more aggressive side of craft brewing. It’s not Stone Ruination aggressive by any means, but several of their beers are pushing higher alcohol and/or bitterness levels. This is not a brewery known for making session beers. Heck, the main line beer—Dale’s Pale Ale—clocks in at 65 IBU.

It’s a malty, not too hoppy easy drinking beer from a brewery better known for trying to knock your socks off:

Bent Paddle Brewing in the House

During my recent trip to the Twin Cities over the July 4^th holiday I got a chance to stop at the excellent Four Firkins in St. Louis Park. If you get a chance and you love beer then a trip to this beer lover’s nirvana is a must. The store is chock-a-block full of beers from around the world, but of particular interest to me were the Minnesota made beers that I do not have access to just a few hours south in Iowa.

Bent Paddle Brewing has intrigued me for months. The word coming out of people who had visited Duluth, Minnesota was that this small brewery—along with other breweries in the area—was producing great beer. Founded just over a year ago in May 2013, Bent Paddle Brewing’s reputation has grown steadily making me a thirsty guy.

True to their backcountry paddling—i.e. canoeing for those who did not grow up with visions of the BWCA in their heads—ethos the beer from Bent Paddle Brewing comes in cans. Why? Cans are lighter than bottles, do not shatter, and in most places bottles are not allowed because of the risk of glass breakage. Plus, cans crush down nice and easy for transport back to civilization. Leave only footprints, right?

I ended up with three beers from Bent Paddle: Venture Pils Pislener Lager, Bent Hop Golden IPA, and Paddle Break Blonde. I am going to take these beers in that order starting with Venture Pils:

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I am done with pilsner lagers. As a style of beer I find that the difference between a well-executed version and Natural Light is getting surprisingly slim. I also find the style to be sorely lacking in anything approaching interest. All of the beers seem to taste the same and that flavor brings me right back to high school or my first couple years of college when sucking down Busch Light was considered the height of a weekend’s entertainment. Oh how times have changed.

This is not to say that Venture Pils is a “bad beer” in any way shape or form, but if I am going to go out of my way to get a craft beer from a different brewery I want something with a little more originality than a pilsner lager. That being said, someone could pick a six-pack of Venture Pils and be very happy that this was the beer they were drinking beside the water while their friends are crushing Coors Light.

Overall, I am going to say that it is middle of the road and built not to offend:

Bent Hop Golden IPA is another story:

It is amazing to me that a beer with a mid to high alcohol content (6.2% ABV) and bitterness (68 IBU), which would have been considered extreme a few years ago, is positioned as a volume style brand staple. In this regard Bent Hop delivers.

Eschewing the more traditional malt profile—using pilsner, 2-row, and crystal malted grains as opposed to a primarily 2-row and crystal—Bent Paddle starts off with a different flavor base that is unique without being overbearing. If you poured this out of the can into the glass someone would probably think you were firing down an apricot or pumpkin beer instead of an outstanding IPA.

No single hop flavor or aroma particularly stood out on its own, instead the beer has more of a bouquet of flavors and aromas. While I appreciate the dedication of a single hop IPA as a showcase for a single set of flavor and aroma there is a definite skill in blending hops over the course of several additions to build a complementary set of flavors and aromas.

Pick up a can or ask for a pint of Bent Paddle Golden IPA and you will not be disappointed:

Lately, I have been down on “summer” beers because I think they are aiming for a lower common denominator of flavors. Plus, most of these derivative beers tend to be lagers which I am quickly slotting into my “dead” category of beer styles. Bent Paddle took a different approach and gave us Paddle Break Blonde:

It’s a summer beer by way of Belgian blonde ale. This is what a summer beer should be. It’s light to the palate (20 IBU), but packs enough of an alcohol punch (6% ABV) that you are not going to need to take more than a few before you’re ability to operate machinery of any kind is severely impaired. In fact, it could have stood to come in a little lower in alcohol so you could have more than a few if you so desired. I guess it stays cold up in Duluth a little longer than anywhere else in the Midwest so I am going to cede that style decision to the brewers.

Unlike Bent Paddle where a lot of the character of the beer comes from the hops, in Paddle Break the Belgian style yeast is allowed to shine by giving off esters of flavor that would have been lost in a “bigger” beer. It drinks clean and leaves you wanting more:

If you happen to find yourself in Duluth make a stop at the Bent Paddle taproom and enjoy their wares. You will be glad that you made the effort. At the very least, if you find yourself in the distribution area take the time to seek out a six pack or more. Again, it is worth the effort.

Finally, a Trip to Lion Bridge Brewing Company

With my Community Supported Ales (CSA) certificate in hand I finally made my first trip down to Lion Bridge Brewing Company in Cedar Rapids’ Czech Village. I know, it seems crazy that someone as into beer as me would wait this long to visit a brewery in his own backyard but life has a way of intruding on so many things.

A note on the space first. In 2008 Czech Village, along with a lot more of Cedar Rapids, was decimated in an apocalyptic flood. Slowly areas have begun to rebound as infrastructure was rebuilt, etc. It is great to see a person making a commitment to an area like the good folks behind Lion Bridge Brewing. The brewery is housed in a building that once contained a business called Maria’s Tea Room. I cannot speak to that business, but I imagine it was quite different. Finished in an industrial chic the tasting room reminds me a lot of Perennial Artisan Ales setup in St. Louis. This is a very good thing.

I would have included some pictures, but I did not want to be that guy photographing everything like a blogging a-hole. It did not seem to fit into the ethos of the evening.

The first pour was a pint of Workman’s Compensation. At 4.7% ABV this beer is aiming to be a session beer, in terms of alcohol, but its body is significantly more malt forward than most session beers. It lingers on your palate more like a brown ale than would be expected.

Calling a beer a session beer is getting to mean as little as the term pale ale in the American brewing spectrum. One consistent theme is a lower alcohol content, which is a good thing, because it seems like every time I turn around someone is releasing another beer that is riding north of 9% ABV. Try drinking a few of those after work and doing anything other than craving fried mozzarella sticks for the rest of the evening. Nonetheless, the beer was a success:

As a member of the CSA, I was entitled to my first growler fill gratis and I chose Workman’s Comp.  Drinking it over the course of the last couple of days I cannot help but draw some comparisons to beers that use coffee extracts or dark roasted chocolate malts. It has that coffee bitterness, in a good way, that is somewhat unexpected. Try it for yourself and see if you notice the undercurrents.

Next was a pint of Mad Maximillion.

Mad Max was described as being aggressively hopped with Australian Topaz, a variety heretofore I had not been exposed, but I doubt that most American “hop heads” would consider this to be a bomb of resin and such. It’s a smoother bitterness without the lingering hop resins that can build sip after sip until you are left with a mouth full of hop aroma that makes it seem like you are breathing out of a bong.

I did not get a chance to try it, but Mad Maximillion was available on a nitro draft system. Overall, a solid beer:

Belgian Golden Wheat was really surprising. I expected this to be the lightest of the three beers in terms of both alcohol and body. It was the highest alcohol (6% ABV) and the body was light, but not to the point like a lot of wheat beers where it is vapid. Saaz hops, I do not know if these are from the Czech lineage, are always a welcome addition because the variety has a really clean profile with a lot of peppery notes. Combine Saaz with a rye malt base and you have a really complex peppery beer. Just an idea.

I came in wanting to savage this beer, but left liking it as much if not more than Workman’s Compensation:

Overall, the beers being poured at Lion Bridge Brewing are a nice departure from the hop forward pale ales that seem to dominate American craft brewing.   You won’t find piles and piles of Cascade, Willamette, Amarillo, or Citra hops. It’s a nice change of pace to drink beers with different profiles.

Here is to hoping that a patio is in the plans because warm summer nights call out for enjoying a beer al fresco.

Pre-Disney Beer Thoughts

I am less than two weeks away from spending a week in Orlando at Walt Disney World.  The sacrifices I make for my daughter…

Scottish 60 Shilling and Dry Irish Stout

I have two batches of beer in carboys right now: a Scottish 60 Shilling and a Dry Irish Stout.  Nothing to really say about either of these two right now except for the fact that the Dry Irish Stout went crazy the first couple of days of fermentation.  How crazy?  The krausen blew the bubbler airlock off the rubber bung.  Wow!  Everything appears normal.

Apparently, there is some urban myth going on with regard to porter and stout as styles of beer.  This is one of the things that I dig about beer.  There is little if any consensus about the history of beer that it makes for fun bar discussions.

Petitie Saison d’Ete

Damn.  This beer really turned out well:

I could easily call this a smooth drinking beer, but that would be selling it short.  The description from the good folks at Northern Brewer said that it would have pungent hop aroma, but I get none of that.  Maybe that is a side effect of hitting the Surly Coffee Bender a little heavily lately.  It might also have something to do with the slightly understated hop profile of Saaz and Styrian Goldings hops.

Unlike some of the stronger beers I have been drinking lately, this saison has a relatively mild level of alcohol and the bitterness is really restrained.  As I develop my homebrewing skills and hone my palate, I have come to a few conclusions about my personal preferences:

• Restrained alcohol (< ~6% ABV) is better than the stronger beers (> ~8% ABV)
• Hops are a good thing, but the impact needs to be used with a judicious hand
• Color is irrelevant

Those are my beer truths.  I am sure things are going to evolve as I continue to push myself as a homebrewer.