The Perfect Hefe?

First of all, Mom, you’re not going to like this one. My mother usually reads my blogs but she doesn’t like the ones that talk about all the intricacies of a well crafted beer. She’d rather read a good story. June was for you Mom, July is for the beer geeks.

I cannot get enough of this Schell Hefeweizen. I do not recall if I have ever had this before but it’s very impressive. I have to admit, I often overlook beers from Schell. They put out a consistent product in each of their offerings but I am guilty of American consumerism; always looking for something big and bold. I am going to try and change that. This past weekend I had a Summit ESB and I thought it was amazing. That’s another beer I wouldn’t usually seek out but it’s all that dad had in the fridge. I will certainly be seeking it out now. But this blog is about Schell. As I said, I usually don’t go to the store looking for Schell beers. I’ve enjoyed their 150th Anniversary beers and I usually get antsy for their Snowstorm which changes each winter but that’s about it. I do like Firebrick in a pinch, in fact I used to drink Firebrick a lot when I was converting from macros to craft. But, as I started to discover all the new flavors and styles I started to lose interest. I started to drink mostly ales and stopped giving lagers a chance. How small of me. At any rate, a post on BeerAdvocate this month brought this beer to the forefront of my mind. Being a fan of this style I decided I needed to try it. I visited Sean at the Four Firkins one day and got the last six pack. What did I think? Well…

This beer pours a beautiful cloudy golden-yellow color. A nice big frothy head that dissipates quickly to a small bed that covers and retains nicely throughout. Most brewers get the appearance right but this just keeps getting better. The aroma is amazing. The yeast gives off the characteristic banana esters and clove phenolics that any good hefe will but this one’s perfect. Not too much of either and just a tad more clove than banana. To me that makes a hefe. More banana than clove and I feel like it’s off a bit. Either way the two should be balanced. The aroma is so delicate and perfumey it’s just absolutely inviting. The flavor you ask? There is a wonderful grainy breadyness to it and no hop presence as expected. In line with the aroma there are plenty yeasty flavors present. How can this get any better? Well, we haven’t talked about mouthfeel and this is where the perfect hefe comes full circle. The body is light and carbonation pleasantly effervescent. The one thing that I notice that really sets this apart is the aftertaste. There is none, it finishes dry and crisp with none of that residual astringency that I am so used to getting from a Hefeweizen. You know that lingering tartness on the sides of your mouth? This really improves the drinkability. As a certified beer judge, I have never scored anything above a 45 (50 being perfect) but I would be tempted to throw a big old Five Oh on this scoresheet. This is one beautifully crafted beer and they should erect monuments in its honor.

Congrats goes out to the August Schell Brewing Co in the 2009 US Open Beer Championship
#4 Brewery overall
Silver in the Stout category (Schell Stout)
Gold in Kolsch (Zommerfest)
Gold in German Hefeweizen (Schell Hefe)
Gold in German Pilsener (Schell Pilsner)
Bronze in Bock (Maifest)
Gold in American Cream Ale (Deer Brand Original)

Prost!

P.S. How do you like the BREWTUS pilsner glass? I do not frequent Applebee’s much anymore but this glass is special. Nearly 13 years old, this is the glass I had my first “legal” beer in on my 21st birthday. Hey, Sioux Falls didn’t have much to choose from and I was still sadly in my macro heyday.

Colorado Beer Trip Master List

Well, it took over a month to post about all the fun and exciting things we did in Colorado and everywhere inbetween over Memorial Day weekend. Here it is almost Fourth of July weekend, yikes! It was a lot of fun to write as I recalled our experiences, I imagine it will be a lot of fun to go back and read this a few months or years from now. Let’s just hope Google doesn’t go bankrupt. I thought I would post a list of all the great (and no so great) beers we sampled along our way. It’s quite impressive. This is in chronological order and includes the location of said tasting. Please don’t ask me to rank them from my favorite to least favorite. That would probably take another month. We learned some interesting information on our trip, namely:

1. 1000 miles in a Honda Civic is not as bad as it sounds
2. Not all Rock Bottom Breweries are created equal
3. Yeast can “breathe” in beer, humans cannot
4. Vine Street does not open until 4pm
5. The Colorado Rockies really suck
6. Hotels that deliver beer to your room for free are cool

Now, without further ado, the list!

5/21/09
Court Ave Brewing Company – Mike Gauthier brewer
1. Two Rivers Light
2. Belgian White
3. Iowa Oaks Amber
4. Kaplan Hat Hefeweizen
5. Topping Pale Ale
6. Honest Lawyer IPA
7. Pointer Brown
8. BlackHawk Stout
9. Barrel Aged (whiskey) 21st Amendment Ale (Rye)
El Bait Shop
10. Rogue Imperial Pilsner
11. Flying Dog Woody Creek Wit
12. Raccoon River IPA
Upstream Brewing Company
13. O’Gold Light
14. Honey Raspberry Ale
15. Gold Coast Brown Ale
16. American Wheat
17. Capital Premium Pale Ale
18. Firehouse Red Lager
19. Double IPA
20. Dundee Scotch Ale
21. Blue Mystic Saison
22. Oatmeal Cookie Beer
23. Blackstone Stout
24. Blackstone Stout Cask
Crescent Moon Ale House
25. Lucky Bucket Lager
26. Ska Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter

5/22/09
Odell Brewery
27. Sadie Hawkins Lager
28. Easy Street Wheat
29. Levity Amber
30. Rocky Mountain Great Red Ale
31. 5 Barrel Pale Ale
32. 90 Shilling Scotch Ale
33. Cascadian Dark Ale
34. Cherry Stout
35. Cutthroat Porter
36. Odell IPA
37. Buffalo Bourbon Stout
Fort Collins Brewing Company
38. Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat
39. Birdie Lager
40. Dortmunder Export
41. Retro Red
42. Rocky Mountain IPA
43. (Billy the) Kidd Schwarzbier
44. Barrel Licked Bock
45. Z-Lager Rauchbier
46. Double Chocolate Stout
47. Chocolate Stout
CooperSmith’s Brewery
48. Poudre Pale Ale
49. Albert Damm Bitter
50. Punjabi Pale Ale
51. Not Brown Ale
52. Horsetooth Stout
53. Sitzmans Steam

5/23/09
Catalyst Coffee
54. BearRepublic Racer - X
New Belgium Brewing Co
55. Trippel
56. Mighty Arrow
57. Mothership Wit
58. Sunshine Wheat
59. Blue Paddel
60. Adam’s Ale
61. Abbey Ale
Oskar Blues Brewing
62. Dales Pale Ale
63. Mother’s Little Yella Pils
64. Old Chub
65. Ten Fidy
66. Gordon.
67. Barrel Aged Ten Fidy
Great Divide Brewery
68. Begica
69. Yeti Imperial Stout
70. Titan IPA
71. Hercules DIPA
72. Wile Raspberry Ale
73. Hades Belgian Style Ale
74. St Bridget’s Porter
75. Saison
76. Claymore Scotch Ale
Bull & Bush Brewpub
77. Allgood Ale (Amber)
78. Man Beer IPA

5/24/09
Coors Brewing Company
79. Coors Original (Banquet Beer)
80. Blue Moon – Honey Moon
81. Killians Irish Red
Rock Bottom Brewery – Original Location
82. Bottoms Up Kolsch
83. Buffalo Gold Ale
84. 16th St Wheat
85. Falcon Pale Ale
86. Red Rocks Red
87. Molly’s Titanic Brown

5/25/09
Falling Rock Tap House
88. Pliny the Elder – Russian River Brewing Co
89. Damnation – Russian River Brewing Co
90. Crazy Ivan – Bear Republic Brewing Co
91. Sweet Sixteen Saison – Avery Brewing Co
92. Black Butte Porter – Deschutes
93. Biere de Mars – New Belgium
94. ‘Oaked’ Butthead Bock – Tommy Knocker
95. Modus Hoperandi IPA – Ska Brewing Co
96. Blind Pig IPA – Russian River Brewing Co
Sandlot Brewing – Coors Field
97. Pale Ale
98. Red Ale
Wynkoop Brewing
99. Two Guns Pilsner
100. Wixa Weisse
101. Mile HI. P.A.
102. B3K Schwarzbier
103. Mackenzie’s Milk Stout
104. St Charles ESB
105. Railyard Amber Ale
106. SilverBack Porter

Day 5 Colorado Beer Trip (continued)

(click pictures to make 'em bigger)


Monday, May 25th, 2009 After a number of hours at the Falling Rock, the rain ceased and the tarp was removed at Coors Field. We bid farewell to our new friends and headed out to the ball game. By the time we got there it was already the bottom of the third inning. I guess we were having too much fun at the Rock. We didn’t miss much as the game was still scoreless. In the top of the 4th however, the Dodgers ran laps around the bases, scoring seven runs. Over the next three innings the Rockies got within one run before giving up an eight spot in the top of the seventh. The Dodgers scored once more in the ninth but we were already at the bar by then. Final score 16-6. Not much of a game but we did get to see the majority of the scoring. We watched the fourth and fifth innings from the lower deck first base side and spent the sixth and seventh in the right field upper deck seats. Not sure what seats our tickets were for but our two-for-twenty dollar tickets seemed to get us to all areas of the stadium. We were kind of just there to see the stadium anyway.

While at the game we made a stop at the Sandlot Brewery. This is basically a bar in the stadium however the beer is also brewed right there. The brewery, owned and brewed by Coors under the Blue Moon brand, is visible behind glass opposite the bar. We had the Red and the Pale Ale. The Red actually reminded me more of an English Pale Ale and the Pale Ale reminded me of an American Amber (although that style as a descriptor has always been a little ambiguous). The Pale Ale (Amber) was malty but not sweet and not hoppy at all except to balance the malt. The Red (English Pale Ale) was much hoppier but more so in the English term. No citrus here, just earthy and grassy hops. The Red was my favorite, and although the beers were much better at the Falling Rock, the beers here were much better than at the stadium vendors. Definitely worth visiting, after all it is a brewery inside a ballpark. What’s cooler than that? Now that I think about it, perhaps I just had the two beers mixed up… hmmmm. After the Falling Rock that is certainly possible.

After the game (er, the 7th inning) we headed just a few blocks down the street to Wynkoop Brewing, Colorado’s first brewpub. Opened in 1988 this beautiful brewpub is situated in an old mercantile building and retains a lot of its old world charm. We bellied up to the bar and were greeted by a friendly barkeep. One who in fact lived in the Twin Cities for a brief period of time. Dragged there by, you guessed it, a girl, and all he could remember was the brutal cold winter. Likely story. I started with the sampler here and slowly worked my way through it. All of the beers I tried were unique and nicely crafted to represent the respective style. Pretty consistent and above average across the board. My favorites were the black beers. These were the SilverBack Porter, McKenzie’s Milk Stout and the B3K Schwarzbier. I didn’t take notes, unfortunately, but I think I remember the B3K to be a great roasty dark lager, yum. I just love the dark beers with roasted malt but Schwarzbiers being lagers have a nice clean finish to them with little fruity esters that are common among ales. The B3K was so named in honor of it being their three thousandth batch. The milk stout was creamy sweet and the porter was dark, roasty and smokey all over. I just love me a smoked porter. I also remember the Mile HI. P. A. being a very good American representation of the style. Inviting citrus hops on the nose and tongue which gave way to a maltyness that started sweet but finished nice and dry. The overall experience here was great. Our bartender was very friendly, funny and entertaining. It seemed like it was truly his pleasure to serve us instead of feeling like a burden. I would recommend their service, their vibe and their beers to all.