Rare Beer Nights - and Mikkeller

Flying Saucer's on a roll recently with its rare beer nights. Last week featured Mikkeller's Big Worse, which was a wonderfully decadent barleywine full of malt aroma, rich dried fruit flavor, and enough bitterness to keep it balanced. I enjoyed it so much, I didn't realize how quickly I was drinking it until my glass was nearly empty.

Tonight's featured rare beer is Founders' Devil Dancer, a "triple" IPA clocking in at over 100 IBUs and dry-hopped with 10 different hop varieties. I'm sure Devil Dancer will not disappoint these hop-loving Wort Hogs.

Next week is Dieu du Ciel's Aphrodite (or, "Aphrodesiaque" if you're in Quebec), which is a stout brewed with cocoa and vanilla. I've been impressed with nearly all of Dieu du Ciel's beers, Deese Nocturne being probably the sole exception (and a recent rare beer). Aphrodite, though, is a wonderfully rich stout and one you can easily find in bottles around the KC metro (Royal & Lukas both carry it, and I'm sure other stores do as well). And if you ever find yourself in the Montreal or Quebec City area, make a point to go to their brewpub in Montreal. It has  wonderful ambiance and about 15 different beers on tap. When we were there 2 years ago, they had I think 4 or 5 smoked beers among the list; impressive.

August 5th, though, is something I am really looking forward to:  Mikkeller Chipotle Porter. Apparently only being sold in bottles in Texas, Flying Saucer appears to be getting a keg of it. Sweet! (or, spicy?). While browsing the Mikkeller site, it appears they aged some in bourbon barrels and bottled that too. Awesome.

While on the topic of Mikkeller, I thought their single-hop series was clever and interesting, but not that engaging. What I'm really looking forward to, though, is their upcoming Yeast Series beers. It is truly fascinating to me just how much a strain of yeast can completely change a beer, and I don't think that the beer blogging/reviewing community really pays enough attention to its role. Yeah, we all know that Belgian beers wouldn't be what they are without the signature yeast esters. And "bretted" beers have received a lot of attention lately. But what happens when you make several batches of a simple base beer (say, a strong pale ale) and ferment each batch with a different yeast? Mikkeller has the answer. I can't wait.