The Drunken Polack

During Dark Lord Day I got to try a ton of fantastic brews.  To many to actually remember.  But a few stood out.  Oaked Dark Lord of course, BA Popskull, and a beer that just got released a few days earlier.  Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout.  Goose Island has decided to take their regular Bourbon County Stout and make some one offs.  You have this version, a very called Bourbon County Stout Rare which is aged in 23 year old Pappy Van Winkle Barrels, and a Vanilla bean version.  I think more versions are coming down the line.  Anyway here is the first different take on the beer, their coffee version.  This version has some Black Cat Espresso beans from a local coffee shop. 

When I had it at DL Day it was fresh.  The base beer itself is amazing.  But when you take it and add a little coffee, well it gets even more amazing.  If I a fresh bottle of this stuff I would of easily given it an A++ but the bottle I’m reviewing right now is one I just had last week.  Basically it’s lost most of it’s coffee flavoring and turned into a regular bottle of BCS.  Which is still amazing in my book. 

So I won’t give a brand new review of this beer since it’s pretty much the same review right here.  There is still a small coffee presence on the aftertaste of this beer but it’s no longer what it used to be.  I’m pretty much writing about this beer to let people know how this beer is aging.  I’d totally recommend having it now if you want the slightest coffee flavor.  If you want to age this bottle like you would a regular BCS, then go right ahead, it will turn out fantastic.  I believe they might be releasing this again in 12oz bottles.  Which is a fantastic move on their part.  If you spot it down the line, try it fresh.  You will not be disappointed.

Found: Beer Trade
ABV%: 13.00%
Price:  No idea.  Beer Trade.
Website: http://www.gooseisland.com/
What the company says: Everyday Goose Island smells the wonderful coffee roasting next to our brewery at Chicago’s Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea. They put the same passion and skill into their coffee as Goose Island does with its beer. This excellent stout is made with Black Cat Espresso beans from our friends next door. You’ll like the combination.
Other beers to try from this brewery: Goose Island Sofie, Goose Island Juliet
Other beers to try within the same style: Alesmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout, Lost Abbey Serpents Stout
Rating: A+

Last Thursday I started on a beer crusade that would take me from Minneapolis to Munster, Indiana in 3 days.  I woke up at 4:45am sharp knowing I would be soon meeting up with 3 guys who I have never really met but have talked to a bunch of times on their blogs, through twitter, and have traded with all of them.  You see I think the beer community is a tight knit one.  I wouldn’t meet up with just any old strangers but I felt like I knew these guys before I even really met them.  Who are these people you ask?  Aaron from The Captains Chair, Stu from Friday Night Beer, and the Vice Blogger himself, Aaron.

This just wasn’t Dark Lord Day though.  We hit up a ton of places.

Brewpubs and Bars:

Stubs and Herb’s - The first place we went to.  If this bar was by me I’d be in trouble.  It has a great atmosphere, good food, and a hell of a beer list.  I could of honestly sat there all day.  Did I mention it was located in the middle of the University of Minnesota?  That provides a whole different thing to look at if you know what I mean =)

Beers consumed at Stubs and Herb’s: Surly Abrasive Ale (Batch 1) and Surly Furious

Barley  John’s - Second stop of the beer tour was to this little brewpub off the side of the road.  If you blink you could miss it.  Stu explained to me that the deck outside is usually overgrown with hops but when we were there it was barren.  Maybe to early in the year?  They are known mostly for Rosie’s Old Ale but sadly Old Rosie wasen’t available.  So we picked up a flight of 4 of their other brews.  The Bitter being my favorite out of the four.  All really good though.  We sat outside and enjoyed the perfect weather.

Beers Consumed at Barley Johns: Little Barley Bitter, Stockyard IPA, Wild Brunette, Old 8 Porter

The Captain’s Basement Brewpub – Ok so this isn’t really an official brewpub but we did enjoy some fantastic homebrews from the Captain himself.  3 to be exact.  I really enjoyed all 3 but my favorite had to be the Hefe.  It just hit the spot.  We got to meet his lovely wife and daughter, drink some fantastic beers, and enjoy some grilled food.  Thanks for letting me stay Aaron.

Beers consumed at The Captain’s House: The Captain’s Slightly  Better IPA, The Captain’s Hefeweizen, The Captain’s Wild Rice Brown Ale, Sam Adams Utopias

Ale Asylum – We stopped by Ale Asylum on the way to New Glarus.  I didn’t know much about these guys so I was very surprised when we stepped into the brewpub.  Loved the look of the place, their food was really good (pull pork sandwich with chips and salsa was great) and I loved the samples they give you.  You can buy 10 samples of their stuff for 20 dollars.  It’s such a bargain.  Out of everything their Bedlam IPA was #1 and was simply a delight to drink.  The Citra hops used in the brew was just amazing.

Beers consumed at Ale Asylum: Bedlam IPA, Ballastic IPA, Ambergeddon, Bamboozleator, Big Slick Stout, Contorter, Gold Digger Blonde, Hopalicious, Sticky McDoogle

Minneapolis Town Hall – I wish I could write a fantastic story about this place but I can’t and it’s not because the place isn’t fantastic because well it is.  You see the trip here came on my first night.  At this point I was sorta drunk and well I had the worst headache I’ve had in a while.  The brewpub itself is awesome.  Great atmosphere, a nice selection of brews, and a nice little guest tap list.  I did get to try one of the beers I had hoped to try, Mango Masala Mama, and well it was just fantastic.  Next time I go to Minneapolis (Hello DLD 2011) I will make sure I go here first.

Beers consumed at Minneapolis Town Hall: Mango Masala Mama IPA

Flossmoor Station – Once again I was in the same boat for this visit.  It was just after DLD and I was on the verge of being to drunk.  I didn’t get to have any beers since I felt if i had just one more beer, i’d be over that limit of getting sick.  God I hate that.  But Flossmoor Station is just pure class.  It’s such a beautiful place to eat and drink.  They stuck us outside though.  Guess they didn’t want any drunkards in their place =)  I don’t blame them.  Heck I didn’t even though it was still a working station until I heard the train pull up.  I want to go back to this place so bad.  Oh and they teased me with the empty bottle of Wooden Hell in the window to the brewery.  Bastards! =)

Beers consumed at Flossmoor Station: Uhh none dammit!

Breweries:

Surly Brewing – On my first day there I got spoiled and visited Surly.  Aaron lives two miles from the brewery.  Maybe he’s more spoiled.  When we stepped in we automatically got to meet Omar the owner.  It was cool talking to him.  But it was totally great when the Brew Master, Todd Haug walked in and started pouring us some brews.  I got to try Coffee Bender which I loved just as much as the regular version but I also got to try Batch Two of Abrasive Ale.  Wow just friggin wow!!!  This beer was amazing and it totally beat the version I had earlier in the day.  Abrasive Ale is the real friggin deal!  After we bullshitted over the beers, Todd offered a private tour of the brewery.  This was amazing because this was pretty much one on one time with the guy who makes some of the best beer I’ve ever had.  He must of talked with us for a good 40 minutes about everything the brewery does, how everything works, etc.  He’s pretty much my favorite brewer right now.  He makes great stuff yes but he’s totally cool and a hell of a nice guy.

Earlier in the conversation, Aaron the Vice Blogger mentioned that he saw on twitter that Surly would be providing a firkin of Tea Bagged Furious.  Omar and Todd kind of played it off.  As we ended our tour Todd asked us officially if we would like to like to take the firkin with us to DLD and provide it for one of the guest taps.  Of course we said Hell Yes!  So on the way out we picked up the firkin and threw it in the trunk.  Wow were we really driving around with a rare beer in our trunk.  A rare beer provided by Surly themselves?  Hell yes we were.

Oh and in the fridge we spotted this box and no we didn’t get to try it.  I would of given a kidney for a bottle.

Beers consumed at Surly: Coffee Bender, Abrasive Ale (Batch 2)

Check out more pictures of Surly here

New Glarus – Wow just wow!  That’s all I can say about this brewery.  It’s nestled on a top of a hill overlooking the small town of New Glarus, population of about 2100.   This is the most beautiful brewery I’ve ever seen inside and out.  Just take a look at the outside of this place.  The inside is clean and just amazing.  What I like about it most though is that you can actually take a brewery tour yourself.  You can just walk around and see everything.  It’s cool how you can walk around while the brewers just do their work.  It’s seamless.  I also love their gift shop and tasting area.  For 7 dollars you can two tasting glasses and 6 pretty big samples.  All the beer was great.  Of course it was fresh.  I got to try their Golden Ale which is brewery only and part of their R&D line.  I’ll probably never come back to this place again since it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere but I’m so glad I got to see it.

Beers consumed at New Glarus: Golden Ale, Stone Soup, Moon Man, Belgian Red, Cabin Fever

Check out more pics of New Glarus here

Dark Lord Day:

So before I go into the actual day let me rewind to the night before.  We arrived in Chicago around 6pm.  We had every intention of going to Flossmoor Station that night but instead Aaron had the idea of dropping the firkin off at Three Floyd’s.  He gave Todd a call and Todd called back saying that it sounded like a good idea.  So we headed to Three Floyd’s instead.  We drove up and there was a huge line to get into the brewpub.  We drove right up to the doors which was a no no since their driveway was blocked off but we got around it.  Dirty looks ensued as we went into the pub.  The gentlemen that was guarding the door said we had to step back and get in line but that all changed when we said we had the firkin of Furious.  He said right this way gentlemen.  We brought the firkin through the main brewery doors and we were greeted by a few more Three Floyd’s employees who were happy to see the shiny object.  They then let us through the back doors to the brewpub and told the bartender to take care of us.  Wow what a night!  We each had a few drinks and dinner and just had an awesome time.  We felt like rockstars.  The brewpub is awesome.  The atmosphere is electric, fantastic art, weird movies projected on the wall, awesome people.

Last year Three Floyd’s released a brown ale along with Dogfish Head named Popskull.  While Popskull was good, that night they have a Barrel Aged version.  Well holy shit that beer knocked my socks off.  One of the best beers I’ve had in a long time.  It was a shell of it’s former self.  Around midnight we got out of there because we knew we had a long day ahead of us.

So it was time for DLD.  I really didn’t know what to expect.  I knew it was going to be packed but I also heard they were expecting 3k more people this time around bringing the total to around 8k.  We got there around 10am and took our spot the lawn.  We didn’t get in line, we just sat there watching all the suckers get in line while we staked our piece of grass.  It was drinking time and boy was it ever.  Aaron and I jumped to the guest tap area and picked up our glasses of Tea Bagged Furious.  Fantastic stuff.  I also picked up a Apple Brandy Barrel aged Cigar City Warmer Winter, Winter Warmer which was great.  When we got back to our spot we noticed some extra people.  It happened to be Mike from Thank Heaven for Beer with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend.  He shared his homebrew which was over 40%.  Yes 40% and wow it was one of the best beers I’ve had in a while.  Mike is a hell of a guy and I’m glad I got to meet him.  Nate his partner in crime was supposed to be there with him but he had car issues.  Finally got to meet him later in the day and he was also a hell of a guy!  His homebrew ruled too.  Two standup guys.  Through out the day we got to try so many brews.  Stuff that I brought like Isabelle Proximus, CBS, BA Blackbeerd, etc.  But somehow a ton of other beers got into our stash.  Probably the worst beer of the day was a 1995 Sam Adams Triple Bock.  Holy shit, nasty!

But the MVP of the day had to be my man Stu from Friday Night Beer.  The man got us both Oaked and Vanilla Dark Lord.  That guy is magic.  I was afraid I wasn’t going to able to try those two rarities but the man came through.  Stu I salute you!  Needless to say DLD was awesome but it was also a very unorganized even  In the middle of the day the beer per ticket allotment went from 4 to 3.  That surely pissed some people off.  The lines were out of control.  A lot of cutting. I also saw some stuff I wish I didn’t see.  Like a guy sitting in a car with puke on his shirt, passed out.  I also saw some pour guy sitting in the bathroom line surrounded by cops because he couldn’t get up.  He was so drunk he was afraid he would pass out or fall if he got up.  Wow he was drunk.

So would I go again?  Oh I already plan on it next year.  I had such a good time.  I met some fantastic people and drank some legendary beers.  I just need to be more prepared to drink next time.  I was the lightweight of the group.  Oh and Stu you did order those wings and that bottle buddy =)

If I’m missing any guys, let me know =)

Goose Island Sofie – Sofie is a Saison/Farmhouse Ale from Goose Island. After I had this beer I just remember saying that it was a beautiful beer. Very nice on the palatte, terrific taste and aroma, and a joy to drink. Easily one of the finest Saisons I had so far.

Sofie pours a hazy golden color with a huge fluffy white head. Nice carbonation throughout. Just a good looking pour. The smell is fantastic. Yeasty, funky, spicy, and fruity. Taste is fantastic and refreshing. A good amount of funk from the wild yeasts. White pepper and other spices. Round that out with citrus and lemon. The mouthfeel is slightly sour and tart and has a nice dry feeling to it. Between light and medium bodied Overall just a joy to drink and would easily order more of this stuff.

Found: Archer Liquors, Chicago, IL (Mail Order)
Price: 8 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.gooseisland.com
What the company says: Fermented with wild yeasts and aged in wine barrels with orange peel, Sofie is a tart, dry, sparkling ale. A subtle, spicy white pepper note, a hint of citrus from the orange peel and a creamy vanilla finish make Sofie an intriguing choice for Champagne drinkers and beer drinkers who are fond of Belgian Saisons.
ABV%: 6.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Other beers to try within the same style: The Lost Abbey Carnevale Ale, Victory V-Saison
Rating: A

Rock Art Vermonster – So this is the beer that turned the beer world upside down for the past couple of months. If you didn’t hear, Rock Art Brewery came out on top over Monster Energy Drink. Congrats Rock Art! It’s really good to see the little company win over the big company. I honestly thought the whole thing was silly. It just so happened that the whole time this was happening I had a Vermonster sitting in my fridge!

Vermonster is labeled as a barleywine but I see a lot of reviews that state this is more of a Imperial IPA. I can definitely see this if you had this beer at it’s freshest point. There are a good amount of hops in this beer but when I had it, it had a more malty aroma and flavor. More on that in a little bit. It pours a dark ruby red color. A great sized fluffy head pours. Great retention. It would of stuck around for ages if I let it. Good lacing throughout. The smell is full of rich caramel malt. In the background sits the citrus hops. I could defintely see the hops being more up front when this beer was younger. Still a decent aroma. The taste is more of the same. Malt is stronger then the hops. Mixed in there is a bitter hops taste. I think one of the great things about this beer is actually it’s mouthfeel. It’s really thick and creamy. Just coats the mouth. This beer sits at 10% abv. But it’s really drinkable. You sometimes get a little bit of an alcohol taste but not enough to ruin the good taste.

Definitely a decent Barleywine. I’m glad Rock Art fought and won the war.

Found: My buddy Jeff
Price: No Idea
Website: http://www.rockartbrewery.com/
What the company says: We brewed THE VERMONSTER with 110 pounds of malt per barrel and jacked up the pour into a wide mouth thin glass goblet. For an amazing pairing get some Smoked Gouda from Taylor Farm Cheese and a friend!
ABV%: 10.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Rock Art Double Smoked Porter
Other beers to try within the same style: Lagunita Olde Gnarlywine, Stone Old Guardian
Rating: B+

For some reason last night I was in the mood for a big beer.  I took the walk to my fridge and right off the bat I knew what I wanted to try even before I opened the door.  Every time I opened the fridge for the past few months this beer was staring me in the face.  I’ve heard great things.  I’ve heard stories of this beers big tasty taste but for some reason I haven’t been in the mood for huge beers lately.  But tonight was the night.  So like I said I heard this beer was huge.  I’ve had bigger beers then 13% abv but as soon opened up this bottle it smelled like I was about to try a 20% abv beer.  It smelled that big.  Full of awesome ingredients and alcohol I knew I was in for a sipper.  Boy I was right.  It took me over an hour to drink this beer but damn it was worth every little sip.  Easily a beer I will be buying again.  Maybe I’ll save my next bottle for a special occasion.

The color of this beer can only be described as black as night.  It pours like oil.  Thick, thick and once again thick.  A nice sized tan head pours but quickly pours into the blackness.  The smell is just amazing and complex.  Big on brown sugar, molasses,  chocolate, roasted malt, bourbon, alcohol, dark fruit and oak.  Yes that is everything I picked up in the smell.  Yes it’s complex and big.  But some how it still pleases the nostrils.

All I can say about the first sip I took was “Holy Shit!”  Yes all the hype is true.  It’s a beast.  It tries to knock you out.  The alcohol and bourbon are evident and frigging huge but it’s everything else that just comes together to calm the beast and make this a damn tasty beer to go along with the huge factor.  The sweet chocolate mixes in with the molasses, brown sugar, and dark fruit.  This is truly a beer that you must try.  It’s really hard to describe how big and great this beer tastes.  It will only set you back 6 dollars for a fantastic tasting brew.  The mouthfeel is slick but finishes a little dry.  Alcohol is huge from start to finish and burns your mouth, throat, and gut.

There really isn’t much more to say.  There’s an article in the newest Draft magazine called “Brewed to soon”  It’s basically about beers that were brewed early in the craft brewing movement and that still hold up amaziningly today.  Can you believe this brew was first made 1992?  They just made their 1000th batch of it!  It’s still an amazing beer and rocks the palette.

Found: Archer Liquor, Chicago, IL (Mail Order)
Price: 6 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.gooseisland.com/
What the company says: Brewed in honor of the 1000th batch at our original Clybourn brewpub. A liquid as dark and dense as a black hole with thick foam the color of a bourbon barrel. The nose is an intense mix of charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and smoke. One sip has more flavor than your average case of beer. A great cigar beer.
ABV%: 13.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: New Holland Night Tripper, Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
Other beers to try within the same style: First brew from this brewery
Rating: A+

I’m not going to lie.  I bought this beer a while and for some reason I’ve just been putting it off.  Tonight I decided I needed a beer to along with my pork chops.  So I pulled this baby out.  Well I’m glad I did because this was a damn fine and tasty beer and really wanted me wanting more.  According to BA this beer is categorized as a Witbier, yet according to Voodoo Brewing this is not a Witbier.  I’ll have to agree with Voodoo on this one.  It’s hard to classify this beer but I didn’t see it as a Witbier.  Lets just call it “Damn Dave wanted more of this beer” beer.

This beer pours a hazy/cloudy golden color.  A big crater filled head pours up front but quickly dies leaving a nice ring around the glass.  As I drank this beer I got spotty lacing.  Now the first thing I loved about this beer was the smell.  As a kid I drank a lot of Orange Hi-C.  Yes the juice you can find in little juice boxes or how I drank it most of the time, out of those aluminum cylnders.  This beer smelled a lot like it.  It’s all I kept on thinking every time I took a whiff of this beer.  The orange peel was doing it’s thing.  I barely noticed anything else.  Small amounts of lemon and coriander.  Maybe the age of the beer was showing and more of the orange was doing it’s thing.  Totally fine with me.  Smelled beautiful to me.

The taste was more of the same.  It didn’t even taste like a beer to me.  It surely didn’t taste like a Witbier.  It tasted like that juice.  Only thing that was different was the slight carbonation this had.  Small amounts of spice.  I’d like to try this beer fresh to see its differences.  The ending of the beer had a nice little bitter taste to it.  The mouthfeel was very smooth and went down easy.

The brewery says this is great on Summer days.  I would have to totally agree on this one.  Heck it did well on an almost fall day here in Virginia.

Found: Somewhere in State College, PA
Price: Bought this a while ago so I have no idea
Website: http://www.voodoobrewery.com
What the company says: This Wheat ale is made with a little Voodoo Twist. We use our house Belgian Ale yeast and add the average unmalted wheat, wheat, barley,raw oats, malted rye and just add more of each. Hopped evenly and spiced with coriander, bitter and sweet orange peel, juniper berries, 12 varieties of peppercorns,lemon grass and caraway. About 6.75% alc by vol.

Bottle Conditioned and Refermented.  NOT A WIT BIER!!! Just stuff we like in beer that goes great with food.

This beer is to be the answer to those hot summer days. Blows away carbonated water!!!!!

ABV%: 6.75%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Voodoo Brewing Pilzilla, Voodoo Brewing 4 Seasons IPA
Other beers to try within the same style: Samuel Adams Imperial White, The Lost Abbey Witch’s Wit
Rating: A-