Category: malt

legacy

new and exciting beers at legacy vancouver:

Whistler Brewing Pineapple Express Wheat Ale A perfect excuse to kick back and enjoy a few. This golden beauty’s just the ticket. This one’s as fresh as a warm breeze – straight from the shores of Maui.

Russell 626 Anniversary Scotch Ale This strong, dark ale was brewed with Scottish specialty peated malts for a slightly smoky character, then skillfully aged in Bourbon barrels – a beer to celebrate Russell’s 17th Anniversary!

Hofstettner Granit Bock 2011 The Granit Bock is brewed in large granite open troughs. The granite stones are then heated to be white hot and added to the wort. This causes the sugars in the malt to caramelize around the stones and gives the beer lovely caramel and roasted flavors. It also gives the Granit Bock a unique smoked flavor.

green flash

new green flash and founders collaboration brew!

Green Flash has done it again! We have teamed up with another World Class Brewery, Founders Brewing Co. to produce a new collaboration, Linchpin IPA! Join the Green Flash team in the Tasting Room on Tuesday, May 1st for a special Release Party!

“There’s a lot going on in this beer with two yeast strains, copious amounts of wheat malt, and a big focus on ‘C’ hops to deliver a citrus explosion,” explains Green Flash Brewmaster, Chuck Silva. “In fact we lined up more than a dozen hop varieties in the brewery to select three hops with the biggest citrus character to dry hop the beer.

“This golden beer pours with beautiful, frothy white beer foam that lasts due to bottle conditioning. Gently rousing the yeast that settles in the bottle will result in a fuller texture and a more cloudy white appearance. The citrus aromas that jump from the glass are largely tangerine up front with other types of citrus notes that mingle with the Belgian yeast esters. Hop flavors of bitter orange zest dominate the brew and linger to the finish with a nice play of American and Belgian yeast combo.”

A beer with so many components can be held together with a “Linchpin”. The official “Linchpin” of this beer is the skillful collaboration between the two breweries to create a unique hop-forward brew. Linchpins are symbolic: two simple shapes that combine to strengthen a bond amongst many different pieces.

beer tasting

back to some heavy hitting beers for the next instalment of “what i drank on my lost saturday”

the fabulous ryan brought back some fine beers from his recent sojourn in las vegas
stone brewing’s belgo anise imperial russian stout certainly did not disappoint
a licorice stout – how delightful!
such a strong malt base totally hid the belgian yeast from my leery mouth
and what a head!
hoppy, stouty, licoricey, not belgiany, not overwhelmingly boozey – its a winner!
i would love to have another bottle of this to age for a year or two…
10.5%, 56 ibus, warrior hops
“This 2011 Odd Year release pours pitch black with a deep tan head, with aromatic notes of anise, coffee, and cocoa jumping from the glass. Coffee and dark roasted malt flavors dominate, with a robust complement of anise and oak, which leave a lingering blend of vanilla, licorice, and dark malt on the palate. This one will age nicely for several years.”
doing my best vanna white impression

brew dog tokyo
i mean, why not add an 18% beer into our afternoon?
glad it was just a small bottle to split between four people!

“The irony of existentialism, the parody of being and the inherent contradictions of post-modernism, all so delicately conveyed by the blocky, pixelated arcade action have all been painstakingly recreated in this bottles contents.

This imperial stout is brewed with copious amounts of speciality malts, jasmine and cranberries. After fermentation we then dry-hop this killer stout with a bucketload of our favourite hops before carefully ageing the beer on French toasted oak chips.
It is all about moderation. Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must, from time, have excess. This beer is for those times.”

(feel like maybe they should proof-read their copy, particularly if they’ve been imbibing in the tokyo before doing the write up!)

“BrewDog BrewSheet

ABV: 18.2%
OG: 1140
IBU’s: 90
Malts: Marris Otter, Dark Crystal, Caramalt, Chocolate Malt, Roast Barley
Hops: Galena
Twist: Brewed with Jasmine and Cranberries. Dry-Hopped then aged on oak chips.”
what isn’t going on in this beer?
boozey, complex, deep and dark
hoppy, fruity, heavy
not something i want to drink a lot of, or often
but gosh darn it, i really like it
too bad its now being taxed as a spirit and costs more than i am willing to fork out
this one will just have to remain a special imported treat



red truck

i hit up a birthday celebration at st. augustine’s on wednesday evening
and got to try the red truck limited release ipa!
(as featured in scout magazine)

when i first got to st. a’s the staff were not aware of the ipa being on the premises
after i told them it had been tweeted about they searched around and asked enough boss-type people until the keg was unearthed and hooked up
yay!

during that time i consoled myself with a deschutes inversion
defintely my go-to ipa
and a staunch member of my revolving evolving top ten beers list

i am very happy that the red truck ipa was found!
the juxtaposition of malts and hops, sweetness and bitterness
was like a perfect tango on my tongue
i really hope there is some left in the keg on sunday when i next get to stop by st. a’s

couldn’t remember if i’d had the lagunita’s lucky 13 before
so i ordered me one
“plenty of light roasted malt to keep it rich and mega-dosed with loads of hoppy – sweet and spicy amarillo goodness to keep it on the edge”
the nose on this one is amazing
i want to bottle that smell, err, well, you know, as an air freshener not a beer
anyway… very floral tasting
hello amarillo!
not gonna crack my top ten
but i would definitely have it again

i wanted to try the brooklyn brewery’s brewmaster’s reserve “the concoction” next
but alas, they ran out just then
(“based off a delightful scotch-based cocktail called the penicillin and combining peat smoked malt, minced ginger, lemon juice and wildflower honey”)
bummer, man

instead i went for the moylan’s nitro e.s.b.
“an english-syel pale ale.  we chose to deliver this beer with a blended nitrogen and co2 gas mixture.  this delivery method provides a smooth and silky texture to the mouth without compromising a balanced hop profile”
definitely english style, very smooth
almost too creamy
interesting end to a much hoppier beginning
but paired much better with the ice cream birthday cake than any of the earlier beers would have!
might have one again some time

round two!

last weekend i had the opportunity to try a couple of beers again – yay!

as part of anna’s and my tasting afternoon on friday, we went with the tin whistle black widow ale
i thought this would be a good one since anna likes the dark beers, but not the terribly hoppy ones
i already knew i liked it, would it be a good choice for anna?
you better believe it – she liked it too!

black as night and opaque as treacle
this truly is a mild ale
very nicely roasty malty
not much on the hop side, nor the thick and creamy side
this one is just a very drinkable black ale
i could drink it all day i tell ya!
on saturday night at timbre
while everyone else was eating the elk and playing with the kangaroo balls bottle opener,
i had the elysian immortal ipa again
its not the hoppiest ipa on the block but it is quite a lovely brew
floral and aromatic and bitter
delicious!

i must admit that I did happily move on to the red racer ipa to finish the night though
i am a very happy camper that the gib on tap has made way for the central city goodness!

quote of the day

from bridget’s friend nicolle on facebook:

“OMG! You have an affinity for beer? You love the lager? You have affection for the amber brew? You’ve a soft spot for the suds? You’re mad for the malts? You’re the beloved of the brewski? You’re captivated by the cold ones? You’re sweet on stouts? You’re bewitched by barley pops? I never knew! ;)”

russell’s wee angry scotch ale

love the name “a wee angry scotch ale”
and love the beer!

wonderfully dark and malty
pours with an insanely huge head on the vigourous pour
wafts malty aroma
but has a lovely hop bitterness about it
6.5%
30 ibus

from the bottle:  “a wee angry scotch ale is part of the russell brewmaster series: a succession of small batch beers that push taste boundaries and explore new styles of beers.  this beer has been brewed with a blend of scottish specialty malts in the style of a 19th century 90 shilling scotch ale – a strong, dark ale with a dominant malt accent that originated in edinburugh.  this batch of beer was brewed by jack bensley, eric dubuc and anders mckinnon, russell brewing company, 2010.  russell brewing company has been brewing premium craft beer in british columbia since 1995.  our beer is 100% natural and has no preservatives.  we don’t pasteurize which means that we don’t kill the taste – you drink it the way it is brewed.  fanatical about beer, we believe that the passion and quality that goes into creating russell beer comes through in the taste.  enjoy!”

such a great beer when i still want my hops, but i want some malt to go with them
and drinking a dark beer just feels right when the weather gets cooler
not that i’ll ever abandon my ipas
just that sometimes i feel like a nice dark ale
an angry scotch ale!

rogue

one of the reasons why i love the rogue website so much is the education offered

Rogue Ales are made with the finest hops and barley malt, free range coastal water and Pacman top fermenting proprietary yeast. Preservative, additives, chemicals: Never! Rogue does not pasteurize its products. Kegs to Go Available!
Rogue Ales are bottled using an oxygen absorbing cap, brown glass for better shelf life, and plenty of malted barley and hops to provide stability.

Specifications

Plato: A description of the ratio of fermentable malts to water.
A quick way to convert degrees Plato to an approximate ABV is to divide Plato by 2.5 (note, this is not exact!)
IBU: International Bittering Units; parts per million of isomerized hop resins in beer, related to the amount of alpha acid of the hops.
Apparent Attenuation: measure of the difference between the original and ending specific gravity after fermentation. Pacman yeast eats a lot of sugar, but leaves complex sugars.

Ingredients

Lovibond: a color indicator-the higher the number, the darker the product.
Malts: Pale malt is always a 2-row blend of #1 Harrington and the rare Klages from carefully selected gene strains, grown on fertilizer-limited, volcanic rich Northwest lands, carefully graded for plump and protein. Speciality grains are generally from small European maltsters.
Hops: Northwest-grown European varieties, hand selected for look and smell, female only, kilned lupulin-abundant herbicide limited.
Yeast: Rogue’s proprietary ale yeast is PacMan. “Pacman is really great yeast; everything about it is good. Pacman attenuates well, is alcohol tolerant, and it produces beers with no diacetyl if the beer is well made. It’s very flocculent, which makes it a great choice for bottle conditioning. I ferment almost all my beers at 60deg.F; once in a while for certain styles I’ll ferment as high as 70deg.F, but never higher. Use lots of oxygen, and a high pitch rate. I never repitch past the 6th generation, and I always use Wyeast Yeast Nutrient.”
– John Maier, Brewmaster, Rogue Ales