Brooklyn Brewery Bacon Beer

This was just posted over at Gothamist:

A heaping plate of bacon washed down with a frosty mug of beer is the perfect start to any day, but why can't scientists unite those two divine tastes into a single swallow? True, there is a German beer called Rauchbier, which means "smoked beer" and reportedly tastes like bacon, but it's not literally made with cured pig flesh. But at long last, Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver has heard the call of drunken gluttons and is developing a beer made with a special malt smoked in the same room with bacon made by "the legendary" Allan Benton. Oliver tells the Times, "It’s almost terrifying how much the malt smells like bacon." His ingenious plan involves infusing a brown ale with the flavor of Benton’s bacon fat through a technique known as "fat washing." The bacon-fat-infused ale is aged in bourbon barrels, and one historic day (t.b.d.) he will blend it with the bacon-smoked malt. And Oliver promises this to a world hushed with anticipation: "Either this will be the most amazingly disgusting thing you’ve ever tasted in your life. Or I shall rule the earth."

Based on Mr. Oliver's track record, I'm going to guess he'll be ruling the earth in no time.

The Bruery Papier

The outpouring of excellent beers from The Bruery continues, and this might be their most interesting yet. The Bruery Papier is an Old Ale that checks in at a whopping 14.5%. Here's the description (via beernews.org):

Patrick Rue describes The Bruery Papier as a “big Old Ale with a Belgian touch.” This version of the beer is a bit different than the ones released earlier this month for the anniversary party. 25% has been aged in bourbon barrels for over a year; this was blended with a more recent batch that was aged with heavy toast oak cubes making up the other 75%. The other versions have been aged 100% in either Bourbon, Rye Whiskey, or Brandy barrels for over a year.

I would highly recommend splitting this one with one or two of your craft beer drinking friends. Or even beyond that, throw it (gently place it) in your cellar and try it in a couple years. The bottle itself states that it'll age well for DECADES. Let me know how that goes.

Brooklyn Wild One

Sour ales and bourbon barrel-aged beers have been my two favorite styles as of late. That's why when I learned about Brooklyn Wild 1, I nearly fainted. There doesn't seem to be much info about this beer on the internet, and all I've been able to gather is from BeerAdvocate, where users were saying that they took Brooklyn Local 1 and aged it in bourbon barrels with brettanomyces (sour yeast strain). The other tidbit that was bouncing around was that this was somehow only available outside of the US (possibly in Belgium?) which is odd considering it's the Brooklyn Brewery.



I made some tasting notes while sipping it last night and threw together a review this morning. Here it is, from BeerAdvocate:

I was lucky enough to try this the night after the Brett Fest at Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg. I don't know much about the story behind this brew, but I would love to know more. All I had heard is that it is Local 1, bottle aged with Brett, and not available in the US.

The nose is strikingly different to that of Local 1, pretty much a whole new beer in comparison. The bourbon is immediately present, but not overwhelming. You can practically smell the barrel...sour bourbon heaven. The backbone of Local 1 comes through upon your first sip in the mouthfeel, but quickly makes way for the sour notes of the brett and woody bourbon. High drinkability as none of the flavors overwhelm your palete.

Full disclosure: My two favorite styles right now are sour ales and bourbon-barrel aged stouts, so this was basically the ultimate beer for me. As the other reviewer mentioned, Garrett Oliver needs to make this available in the states, as I'd be purchasing it regularly.

This absolutely needs to be made readily available in the US. It's excellent.

Rattle'n"Hum Has A New Toy

This was an interesting little blog entry by the guys at RNH about their new beer lines:

Here at Rattle ‘N’ Hum we clean our beer lines after every keg has been kicked, today we just started using a new product to insure the cleanliness of our lines continues thus giving you the freshest, tastiest beer imaginable, the way the brewer’s intended. We are using a product from Austria that has been in testing with AB for 3 years. It’s a verification agent with line cleaning solution in powder form. We can monitor the cleaning process and inline verification with a color indicator. Chlorine free with active oxygen. It is compliant with DIN 6650 and HACCP norms.

We think that our customers have every right in knowing what happens behind the scenes of RNH as you are trusting us with your health and hope of great clean beer!!

So now you have it, peace of mind!

Interesting. That's an aspect of beer and bar ownership I've never even thought to consider. They're changing their lines so frequently, this just plain makes sense. Tonight I'm off to RNH to add a few more beers to my Mug Club list. I have 24 more days to go and 35 more beers. It's gonna be close! Then its down to Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg to see what they have left from their Brett Fest on Sunday.

You can check out Rattle'n'Hum's full blog here.

Delaware Trip Part 1

A few weeks ago, I was able to visit the Dogfish Head Brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, DE for the third time. Every time I go there, it inspires me more to open my own brewpub. Excellent beers, great food and a beach right down the street. You really can't go wrong with that equation.



Another great thing about the trip to Delaware is the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. A nice 80 minute trip across Delaware Bay that serves Dogfish Head 60 Minute on board? Yes please.



This image above is a teaser for Part 2. Let's just say that those beers were consumed...very quickly.