A Visit to Cantillon Brewery

September 22, 2014 by Steve Leave a Comment

INTRODUCTION

A trip to Belgium would be a waste if not for a visit to the Mecca of true gueuze blending, Cantillon. Not a far walk from the tourist friendly, the relatively quiet street on which some of the finest traditional sour beers continue to be brewed, even as most other similar blenders have been lost to history and less discerning beer palettes. We took the self guided tour, tasted the two free samples that come with it, and then enjoyed a delicious bottle of Fou Foune. Cantillon owner and brew Jean Van Roy, who spied my Lost Abbey shirt, was even so kind to tell us some tales and share some of the yet unreleased Zwanze Day 2014 blend. Iris with cherries and a zesty undertone of spice was a real treat. Living history making history, this brewery continues a tradition of amazing lambic blending, while making new beers all their own.

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CONCLUSION

With an informative, easy paced tour, finishing with a relaxed tasting room offering up amazing beers brewed just a few feet away, this was a visit to remember. The Cantillon tasting room offers samples as well as full bottles of lambic and even a few rare bottles like Zwanze Day ’12 and ’13 the day we visited. There are also bottles for sale, as well as merchandise like glasses, shirts and even ceramic lambic pitchers. Beer geeks like myself arrive, as well as random tour groups, checking off one of the ‘1000 Places to See Before You Die’. With great people working there, eager to help with questions, along with some of, if the the world’s best sour beers, Brasserie Cantillon is a must visit for any beer fan with a taste for Belgian lambics, especially gueuze and kriek. If you ever have a chance to visit Brussels, skip the Manneken Pis, and head straight for the best brewery visit you’ll likely find anywhere.

2014 Firestone Walker Invitational

August 8, 2014 by Steve Leave a Comment

“Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.” – Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

In May of 2014 Dave and Steve attended one of the greatest beer events in the world: the Firestone Walker Invitational in Paso Robles California. Here are some thoughts and images.

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We’ve never been to the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado, never been to Illinois’ Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers, nor any of the Beer Advocate festivals in Boston, nor Savor. Even so, could any festival be a greater venue for the world’s finest beers than the Firestone Walker Invitational? Paso Robles is returning to form as wine country, boasting 2013’s award for Wine Region of the Year. The food vendors, who get short shrift at a beer event but play a critical role—especially to a collective swarm of snobs—not only in keeping people satiated and buffered from unlimited samples of draught deliciousness, but as a compliment to the beers. Food must be up to the quality of the beer or the contrast will define both the food and overall experience as muddled. And the food served at the Invitation is superb. Local restaurants like Robert’s, Estrella, Fish Gaucho, Leo Leo Gelato and more brought top notch California cuisine in bite sized portions. And then there is the beer.

Brewpublic.com has the full list here

BEER OF THE FEST:

Avery Brewing Co.

Lilikoi Kepolo

This sour ale from Colorado’s Avery makes great use of the tropical lilikoi fruit to add both sweetness and a further tartness, making for one of our all-time favorite sour beers. Against redoubtable company on draught, Lilikoi Kepolo stood above the rest, as the most complex and delicious beer we sampled .

Other favorites:

Alesmith Brewing
Barrel Aged Vietnamese Speedway Stout

Alpine Beer Co
Keene Idea

The Bruery
Black Tuesday w/ Pistachio & Vanilla

Cigar City Brewing
Tangerine-Orange Berliner Weisse

FiftyFifty Brewing
Coffee-Vanilla Eclipse

Firestone Walker Brewing
Parabajava

Kern River Brewing
Citra DIPA

Lost Abbey/Port Brewing Co
Red Poppy

New Belgium Brewing
La Folie

Surly Brewing
Pentagram

Taps Fishhouse & Brewery
Blanche de Conundrum
Remy’s Pappy

CONCLUSION:

The variety and quality of brewers and beers, the food and facility, and the overall execution make this one of the best beer festivals in the country. People in the area are blessed to have Firestone Walker, and especially lucky to have such a great festival to craft beer. If you ever have the opportunity, get to Paso and check out the Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival.

Craft Beer In Montreal

August 13, 2012 by Steve 1 Comment

Great craft beer comes from unlikely places, such as when your wife wins a trip to Montreal on The Price Is Right

In our quixotic quest to find the world’s best beer, Dave and I find ourselves in places both exotic and banal. French Canada is somewhere between the two. Do the locals believe that fries are best served wet, sloshed in gravy and cheese curds? Sure, it’s their thing. And wine is certainly the adult beverage of choice in this old city. But is there craft beer in Montreal? Oh yes, indeed there is.

The Oxford Companion to Beer notes that the province of Quebec “is home to some of the most creative and talented brewers in the country”. For the majority, priding themselves as French people, beer is an afterthought in Montreal, living in the broadly cast shadow of vino; somewhere between Perrier and Champagne. But secondary status does not necessarily indicate sub-par product. To the contrary, unique cultural elements in the province of Quebec come together to gift beer aficionados with a special terroir, capable of producing wonderful brews.

The French gastronomy prides freshness and purity of flavor above all else, and these are elements that can certainly lead to wonderful craft beer. Another factor in the craft beer in Montreal is the British influence. Even though Canadian CAMRA leads its antiquated zealotry from a far western province, their beer engine loving fetish is a strong influence in the local beer bars and brewpubs. Sample anything on cask before buying the pint.

The Breweries

Starting out, no craft beer in Montreal drew me in more than Dieu du Ciel. Their beer garden faces a street that seems to host more bicycles than cars. Inside, a medium sized gastropub and surprisingly petite bar wrap around a small tank room. The ten minute, uphill walk from the Metro will have you thirsty, drawing your eyes to the lengthy draft list. On our visit there were over 10 beers on draft including Belgian and American IPAs plus a cask brew. Péché Mortel, their best known beer, is a coffee flavored imperial stout and served on nitro. Having had this in bottles I was not prepared for the greatness of a fresh pour. Dark roasted cocoa powder, with a bready sweetness and dry finish, with only a hint of the alcohol. The addition of nitro made it all the easier on the palette and Péché should only ever be poured this way. The cask beer, Friendship and Farewell, was a high ICU (International Citrus Units) India pale ale. A collaboration between Dieu du Ciel and Hill Farmstead, this delicious brew with significant body, was a citrus hop lovers dream. As quaffable as an 6% ABV beer I have tasted. Also tasted was Pee Wee, an American Pale Ale that was a bit malty, with strong bittering hops in the finish. Less piney than a west coast, and less citrus than an eastern APA, but quite drinkable. Paired these with a dynamic and delicious local cheese plate.

For a very different feel, Benelux brewpub offers up an industrial look, with thumping euro-house music and hip youth; the wall of 1/6th barrels are the only hint this is a spot for craft beer in Montreal. First up was Amok, a Belgian strong dark ale that needed a bit of spice and more defined yeast, but was otherwise well met. Then came CUDA: An American “West-Coast” IPA that was a joy to drink. Huge pine and floral hops explode in the mouth, commingling marvelously with the hop bite. If you are in Montreal, GET THIS BEER!!! Best IPA I have had since Hopslam or Pliny the Younger earlier in 2012. We tasted a few other decent ales and La Marge, a chocolaty but thin stout. Not one beer was bad, and most were above average. Benelux has a weird mix of European lounge surrounding a brewery that fits perfectly in Montreal. The service is good and the beer is excellent.

The final brewery we tried in Montreal seemed to be a favorite of locals of a certain age. Les 3 Brasseurs is actually a chain founded in France, with each location brewing its own beer on site. The concept reminded me a bit of Pizza Port locations in San Diego. Unfortunately, the beer did not match the quality of what Port Brewing is doing. Les 3 Brasseurs actually has at least nine locations. We stopped by their spot on St. Catherine street. The service was friendly inn their multi-leveled , contemporary, if a bit generic, space. There is a large food menu, and free wi-fi is available. We ordered a sampler and found it wanting. Other than the Raspberry Red, a salvageable fruit beer, the beers were bland and in a few cases infected. Hopefully other locations are better.

The Bars

With so many brewpubs, finding craft beer bars that don’t brew actually became a challenge. Luckily, the one we did find was worth the effort and the hike from the Metro. Vices & Versa is a beer bar and bistro that takes local seriously. These guys serve exclusively beers from Quebec, excluding the macros like Molson. Even Unibroue is too commercial to make their 33 taps. The bar is decent but on good weather days you can enjoy a wonderful escape from the city in their verdant patio. A laid back, casual feel makes taking your time to find the perfect sampler of small batch, Quebec craft beer a delight. Brewers like Dunham, Brasseurs Illimités, and Le Bilboquet get a chance to show their wares off to appreciative, mostly younger, craft beer fans. In addition to the beer a few ciders were on draft. One we sampled, the Cud Cuvee Sur Lie fr Les Vergers de la Colline, clocked in at a whopping 10% ABV; not bad if you have to drink cider! This place totally kicked ass and I cannot recommend it enough to beer fans visiting Montreal.

Conclusion

At one time, I, like many Americans, thought of Canada as we did Europe, having a great beer culture and as such, brewing better beer. While the USA may still be the land of Bud Light, beer fans know that the renaissance in American brewing has spawned perhaps the most creative and best brewed beers of the past decade. Canada, from my perspective, had been a non-factor in the increases in quality and innovation seen in brewers to the south. That was my opinion until I visited Montreal, at least. While still playing it conservatively, Canadian brewers in Quebec are certainly brewing top quality beers including big IPAs, that deserve to be better distributed and recognized for the excellent brews they are. If you are ever visiting Montreal, do yourself a favor and try some of the local beer. You’ll be happy you did.

44 Hours of Beer in Oregon

February 16, 2012 by Steve 2 Comments

Took a short trip to Portland and Eugene. Just long enough to sample some great west coast brews.

Finding Beer in Oregon

If you are young and you drink a great deal it will spoil your health, slow your mind, make you fat – in other words, turn you into an adult.
P. J. O’Rourke

With over 100 brewery companies operating in Oregon, according to the Oregon Brewers Guild, you can hardly stroll from the airport gate to baggage claim without running into a brewery. The state is the second largest craft beer producer, second largest hop producer, and third largest consumer of craft beer in the United States. All this makes it the perfect place for a beer geek to spend a few days.

Portland

With 43 within city limits, Portland has more breweries operating than any city in the world. Some of the bigger names include Widmer Brothers, Deschutes, Full Sail, and Hair of the Dog. Rogue also has a Distillery and “Public House” and, has in recent years taken over the charming and famous beer bar the Green Dragon. With only a few hours on the itinerary for the city, I made my first stop for lunch and a few beers at the Horse Brass Pub, my favorite place in Oregon to get a pint.

Purchased by Don Younger in 1976, this shrine to British pub culture serves Scotch eggs, bangers, fish and chips, and some of the best on-tap craft beer anywhere. Horse Brass feels like an authentic English pub with soccer signage, knick-knacks, shabby chic lighting, and no shame in its patina. Having no time for warm ups, for my first beer of the trip I started off with Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. This was my first taste of Pliny on draft and it was even better than the bottle I had sampled. Great balance with huge pine and grapefruit hops and a nice dry finish. Second beer went in a different direction: Firestone Walker’s Velvet Merlin. A tasty oatmeal stout, this beer has great body, a hint of sweetness in the dark malts, and good carbonation. FW knows what they are doing here. Also sampled Walking Man’s very good Black Cherry Stout. Lunch was scrumptious, with tasty pub grub and attentive service. If you are in Portland for even a short time, make a point of stopping in Horse Brass for one.

After lunch we went around the corner to Belmont Station, a beer store suggested by Brad of Cleveland Hops. A fine beer writer, Brad has a great piece on his longer trip to Portland. Belmont is a great store with hundreds of Oregonian and west coast bottles. I picked up a 22oz. of Firestone Walker’s 15th anniversary and some Russian River selections.

Employees at the store, looking more like the cast of The Golden Girls than Portlandia, were helpful and knew about good beer without snobbery. In addition to the bottle selection, Belmont had a number of kegs ready to fill your growler with a myriad of top shelf craft beers. Having no growler or any way to get it home, I had to pass. Lacking time for a brewery visit, our final stop in the city for beer in Oregon was at another bar.

Henry’s Tavern in the Pearl District is a minimalist/modern designed three story bar in a repurposed brewery with restaurant on one side, bar on the other. Slick, almost sterile, this place could be located in any large city in the Western world. Trendy cocktails and top shelf liquor offer some color to the dark walls and dim lighting. The service is proficient, but cold compared to the usual Portland geniality. But the draw for us of course, is the tap list. With over 30 beers on tap, including multiple nitro handles, this Oregoncentric bar covers a large swath of styles. Deschutes Black Butte was my first beer at Henry’s and it did not disappoint. Chocolate and coffee roasted notes, medium mouthfeel and just enough hops to give it a structure. A great porter from one of Oregon’s finest brewers. Continuing the Russian River subplot, beer number two was RR’s Damnation. A pallid orange liquid, served in a large snifter, it smells of Belgian yeast esters and spice. Taste is spicy with apple, sour, and quite a bit of sweetness. Good carbonation in this thin body and boldly hopped for the style, this Belgian strong ale finishes dryly.

The remainder of our time in Portland was spent drinking coffee, eating at Clyde Common (serving barrel aged cocktails), and grabbing a maple bacon bar from VooDoo Doughnuts. Great times in a great city. On to Eugene.

Eugene

Eugene, Oregon’s second largest city, is perhaps most famously home to the University of Oregon. Track Town USA has a lot of loyal Ducks wearing Nikes on the street, to dinner, at funerals, even at their own wedding. But it’s not all sports, with a number of breweries and quality bars, there are plenty of choices here to tempt a craft beer fan. Having less than twenty four hours in Eugene counting sleep and meals, time was precious. As such, I narrowed my focus to a newer brewery that has been making positive waves: Ninkasi.

Founded less than 6 years ago, Ninkasi is now proudly producing their flagship Total Domination IPA and other well hopped beers from a 50 barrel brewery in the Whiteaker neighborhood. Like Jeremy Lin coming out of nowhere, Ninkasi became the fastest growing craft brewer in 2011, surpassing even New Belgium’s blistering growth records. The tasting room is small, but cozy and attractive. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The free tour was given by an employee who knew the facility front to back, having started as a keg washer. To explore their beers I ordered a sampler. The 5oz (!) samples each come with a card displaying the beer’s label on one side, and effusive tasting notes on the other. ABV, original gravity, the varieties of hops and malts, even food pairings are all included as reading material while you imbibe.

Starting with the Sterling Pils, a crisp, hoppy, delicious example of the style, the beers I had were well made and inviting. From the malty but dry Sleigh’r Dark Doüble Alt, to the hoppy flagship Total Domination IPA, or the very well made Oatis oatmeal stout, Ninkasi brings solid brewing chops to each variety. While few of these beers will be jamming up the beer geek interwebs with limited release adjunct vessels, Eugene has a funky, exciting location brewing great craft beer. It is a must visit for any beer lover staying in the area.

Although I spent nearly all my time at Ninkasi, a short visit was paid to Hop Valley Brewing Company, a brewery/restaurant near the hotel. Hop Valley brews a number of beers on sight including Alphadelic IPA, a piney but simple brew and Golden Road, a “Belgian” pale ale on cask that missed a few style marks. Every state has cookie-cutter sports bars, Oregon is great because here they have fresh beer. Not a bad place for a meal and a real ale.

Not Enough Time

Surrounded by beautiful scenery, friendly people, great food and scores of breweries, exploring all the beer in Oregon would be a challenge in 440 hours. Having sampled greats on previous trips like Deschutes, Full Sail, Rogue, and amazing bars like McMenamins Kennedy School, the breweries and bars of our trip were as good as anything I have visited. Every time my eyes catch Mount Hood, and lips taste a real pint of a west coast ale, the truism that Oregon is a haven for craft beer comes flowing back. There may be no better beer-cation spot on the planet.