Swapping out the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs

Goose Island has been full of news lately. First, news that they're killing distribution of their Nut Brown & Oatmeal Stout. While I think both of those are good beers, I can't think of the last time I had either of them. I think Bell's Best Brown is a better option for an English Brown Ale (though is only available seasonally), but also quite enjoy Samuel Smith's Nut Brown as well. Regardless, I was initially surprised to see the brewery put an end to the distribution of beers that provide 40% of its year-round selection. But with such a heavy focus now by beer enthusiasts on limited and seasonal releases, it makes sense to focus on more lucrative and marketable products.


Additionally, Goose Island explained on Facebook that "in the competition for fermentation capacity, tap handles, and shelf space, Nut Brown and Oatmeal Stout have been disadvantaged by the increasing popularity of hoppy, wheat, sour, and barrel aged beer styles. We are grateful for the few loyal aficionados who have enjoyed our old friends until the end. To you, we can offer only assurance that the Goose Island brewpubs will continue to brew regular batches of both beers and offer them by the pint and by the growler to enjoy at home."

Presumably, that means we'll be on the lookout for more beers from Goose Island like Sofie, Bourbon County Stout (and its derivatives), and their newest release, Fleur: “A Belgian style pale ale blended with hibiscus and kombucha tea, Fleur is a beautiful, rose-colored ale with an aroma of strawberries and hibiscus flowers. Her flavor balance starts with a hint of sweet, ripe, berry and finishes tart.”

If you're interested in the evolution of Goose Island, you may want to attend Barleys' next Beer School this coming Monday (April 19th) at 6pm. It'll be held at the Overland Park location and costs $8 per person. To get your tickets, call 913-663-4099.

Beer Tasting Tonight in Shawnee

I got an email from KC Hopps last night about an O'Fallon tasting at the Barley's Brewhaus Shawnee location. A little advance notice would have been nice, but if you don't have plans tonight and love making last-minute arrangements, here's a suggestion. They still appear to have space remaining (I can offer a guess as to why...)

The items offered with food pairings are:
-  Pumpkin Ale
-  5 Day IPA
-  Smoked Porter
-  Cherry Chocolate
-  Rye IPA

Seems rye beer is all the rage these days; even Michelob has one. Like wheat, rye adds body to beer to give it a bit more substance and a smoother mouthfeel. Unlike wheat, however, it adds a little spiciness to the beer, making a great pairing with seasonal comfort foods.

Sounds like it could be a great beer for Thanksgiving dinner...

On Tap Around Town

Sure are a lot of new beers going on tap lately.

Barley's out in Shawnee has had some rare Bear Republic kegs on tap the past few weeks. If you haven't had Racer X or Mach 10, they're a (west coast) hoppy treat - and they probably won't be around much longer.

McCoy's in Westport just put on a keg of their Imperial Steam Beer. I haven't had any yet but am looking forward to trying it. I'll be curious to see what an Imperial steam beer is like... I'm guessing lots of sweet & bready flavor with a bit more fruity esters. Most people are probably familiar with Anchor Steam but don't know that it's a lager brewed at ale temperatures. German brewers who immigrated to California in the 1800s didn't have the technology or cold Alpen caves to lager their beers, so they fermented their lagers at California's more temperate climate. Anchor trademarked the "Steam" name, so you might see this style called California Common elsewhere.

Speaking of California Common, Free State just put one on on tap ("Prairie Fog Ale") along with a new Vienna Lager. Vienna Lager is a cousin to the Oktoberfest and Märzen styles and isn't very easy to find (outside of Negra Modello). You can read more about these three closely-related styles in Ray Daniels' Designing Great Beers or George Fix's Vienna/Märzen/Oktoberfest edition of Brewing Classic Styles. I've become a fan of Fix - reading about chemistry seems about as appealing to me as getting jabbed in the eye, but his Principles of Brewing Science was actually really interesting. If you're curious about what happens when you do hop additions during the wort boil or what is actually going on during fermentation, I highly recommend Principles.

But I digress. McCoy's also recently put on a Bohemian Pilsener and should have their Coffee Stout available as well. They'll be coming out with a Winter Warmer here some time soon. I'm not sure when, but it'll be at their Christmas Ale dinner on 12/1. Not to be left out, 75th Street is tapping a keg of their Coffee Porter tonight (11/13) and will have it on nitro to give it more body & a creamy mouthfeel.

And finally, next Thursday Flying Saucer will be tapping a keg of Sierra Nevada's Harvest Estate ale, an American IPA that was made using only hops & barley grown on the brewery's property. With almost all of the brewery's energy coming from their own private solar array and their efforts to use recycled water, perhaps one of these days we'll see a Sierra Nevada "Off The Grid IPA" on the shelves.

So there you go - plans for next week!

I Got Schooled

I recently went to my first Barley's Beer School, which Paul A Ner of KC Beer Blog and KC Hop Head also attended. Though they beat me to the punch on their posts, here's my take on the evening.

The night's event featured brewers Steven Pauwels and Jean-Marie Rock from Boulevard Brewing and Orval Brewing, respectively. The two brewers have been the buzz of the craft beer world lately as news of their upcoming collaboration beer spread. Just a couple of weeks ago, the brewers got together at Boulevard’s facility and recreated one of Rock’s first brews, an Imperial Pilsner made with Pilsner malt and Czech Saaz hops. This recipe has not been commercially brewed in over 30 years, as Rock developed it while at a different brewery. He later joined Orval in 1985 as brewmaster and has focused his efforts on maintaining the quality of Orval’s beer production.

Though the monastery’s history reaches back to the 17^th century, the brewery we know as Orval today came into existence in the late 1920s. While it started out just making cheese, the monastery expanded to beer production and became one of the world’s seven Trappist breweries. During the past several decades, Orval has only made two beers:  Orval and Petite Orval (made specifically for the monks and only available at the monastery).

Our first lesson at Beer School was about the production of Orval, as it is unique among the Trappist ales. The process includes dry-hopping and the addition of Brettanomyces (“Brett”) just prior to packaging.  While the hoppiness of the beer subsides over time as the hop acids degrade, the funky character of the Brett yeast takes over and changes the beer over time. Rock suggested cellaring several bottles of Orval and sampling them over a period of five years to note the substantial differences in the character of the beer as it ages.

We were provided with 2-3 ounces of Orval to taste and experience. The beer is a pale orange color with a fragrant citrusy and light hop aroma. Its flavor is lightly bitter (from the hops) and acidic (from the Brett), with a dry finish. It has a moderate-to-high level of carbonation, which lends a refreshing quality to the beer.  You can find Orval at most liquor stores with a decent Belgian beer selection (even McGonigles) or at beer bars such as Barley’s, Flying Saucer, and The Foundry.

Our second lesson of the evening was about the upcoming Imperial Pilsner. Rock spoke of his interest in doing this collaborative brew to go “back to basics,” and Pauwels added that “the goal is to use really old techniques because they make really good beer.”  Since the beer needs to be lagered, it will not be available until late January or early February. I’m really looking forward to this beer, as there are not many Imperial Pilsners on the market and the ones I have had were fantastic. The most accessible ones to us are made by Boston Brewing Co (Samuel Adams) and Rogue. They’ll be more floral and less spicy than a Pilsener made with Czech Saaz hops like the collaboration brew, but they should give you a reasonable impression of an Imperial Pilsner.

The final lesson of the evening introduced one of Boulevard’s upcoming releases, Harvest Dance. It’s a wheat wine with some creative flair. Wheat wines are closely related to barleywine, but have both wheat and barley in the grain bill. The wheat gives it just a hint of a soft mouthfeel, similar to a Hefeweizen. Harvest Dance is also hopped solely with Citra hops, a new American variety that possesses fruity characteristics. Finally, it is fermented with Boulevard’s Belgian yeast strain and a bit of Muscat grape juice is added to the beer just before packaging for bottle conditioning. All of these ingredients put together create a beer that is a bright, dark-golden color with a tropical fruit aroma and flavor. The aroma smacks you with banana, while the flavor of the beer presents mango and a lot of pineapple; the finishing flavor is all Muscat. If you can't tell already, it is a somewhat sweet beer and as a result would be great for dessert. I’d pair it with a plain cheesecake or pound cake; the tropical fruit qualities of the beer would match either perfectly.

Barleys’ next beer school will be held on Nov 16^th and will focus on the raw materials used to make beer.  Brewers from Boulevard and 75^th Street Brewery will be speaking on the topic and fielding questions. Something tells me there will also be samples...

It's a Coupon Letdown Extravaganza!

About a month ago, I was at Barley's Midland for lunch and our server handed out a few coupons announcing KC Hopps' anniversary week. The coupon had the logos of all the KC Hopps businesses (Barley's, 75th Street, Blue Moose, 810 Zone, O'Dowds) and 5 little scratch-off circles. If any two icons matched after scratching off the silver covering, you received that prize - free meal, $5 off, and various other little prizes.

The first day of "anniversary week", we walked over to 75th Street Brewery for some grub and brought our tickets. The tickets apparently confused our bartender, who stepped away for a few minutes to figure out what they were for. When she returned, she explained that they were only good at the Barley's Midland location. Okay, no problem. We go there frequently and would exchange our coupons later (totaling $10 off our bill, by the way).

... but it begs the question - why put all the KC Hopps logos on there without ANY specification of valid locations? The coupons clearly stated a date range in which they were valid, so it wasn't as if they were generic prize coupons that could be used for any event. I never did figure that out and, to my discredit, didn't bring this up with KC Hopps management.


Fast forward to today. We went to 75th Street for lunch on this dreadfully hot June afternoon. I ordered a Royal Raspberry Wheat (which is refreshing and dry) and one of their seasonal salads, the Spring Beet and Chevre salad. Now, I had the Pear & Endive salad a couple of weeks ago at Barley's Midland and absolutely loved it. It was fresh, had a nice balance of flavors, and definitely large enough to be an entree - I didn't even finish it. When my beet salad arrived at 75th street, though, I almost sent it back (and, perhaps, should have).

What was placed before me was a handful of greens topped with a few pieces of baby asparagus, two slices of chevre (the only item I felt was of an appropriate amount), some walnuts, and nine 1/2" cubed pieces of yellow beet. Nine. !!! I've had SIDE salads bigger than that! This is the second time I've ordered a salad at 75th Street and found it to be grossly underwhelming. I got their pecan-crusted goat cheese salad once, and my experience was similar - a tiny pile of greens drenched in oil and topped with about 1/2 ounce of goat cheese and accompanied by a couple of crackers. I wish I had a camera phone so I could provide an example, but the pile of greens on both salads was about the size of a softball.


To top it off, while we were wrapping up our meal, someone whom I presume to be the shift manager presented us with a 25% off lunch coupon. YAY! I love coupons! But as I got to looking at it, not only is it for our next visit, the holder of the coupon has to bring another person with them AND it has to be on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday between 11-2pm. Seriously?

Maybe I need to come up with some coupon rules, a la Bull E Vard's Happy Hour guidelines... Though I haven't said anything to management before now, this was my breaking point. I mean, really... You guys can do better than this.

"Excellent Things are Rare"

The New York Times today has an article about two of my favorite subjects: beer and food. Specifically, the article explores why it seems so difficult to find places that excel at both, and do it via great service and knowledgeable staff. Though the article is specific to New York, I find it applies anywhere.

Great beer abounds today in New York, and the choices keep getting better. Nowadays, almost every neighborhood bar has at least a few craft beers. The better beer bars offer an expanded selection, scouring the world for unknown brewers and new beers. And the mark of a top-flight spot is one or two cask beers, served unpasteurized and unfiltered with natural carbonation, rather than from a pressurized keg.

Yet an imbalance exists that threatens to undercut the pleasure to be found in a perfectly drawn pint. While aficionados yearn to have beer taken as seriously as wine, too often beer is presented in a context that diminishes the respect it deserves.

Sometimes, the problem involves food, as with Studio Square. At Pony Bar, a new bar in Clinton that specializes in American craft beers, the River Horse ESB, served lightly chilled from a cask, was pure and delicate. The beer selection was excellent. The roast beef sandwich was tough, the burger desiccated.

Other times, it’s simply a clueless staff...

I was recently reading an article on Beer Advocate about the top beer bars in the country. The article was from four years ago, but most of the places on the list still exist. I read the BA reviews for over half of those places, and noticed three consistent trends, all of which apply to one or more of my favorite watering holes here in KC:

1. Bad service. Not just mediocre, but bad. Do these places even train their staff?
   
2. Bad food. Why provide something that is guaranteed to disappoint your customers?
3. Bad atmosphere. What? I can't hear you over the Ozzy and guys cheering over beer pong.
   

Now, I'll point out that we are lucky here in KC to have the options we do: Waldo Pizza, Barley's, 75th Street, Flying Saucer, Gordon Biersch, Harry's Country Club, Grinders... and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. However, it seems like no one place has it all nailed. Gordon Biersch comes pretty damn close with great beer and pretty decent food - but the service?

All I ask for is this:

1. Make sure it's easy for your patrons to hear others in their party. Barley's has this nailed. Flying Saucer, not so much.
2. Educate your staff about beer. I don't care if they all hate beer; if you have it on tap, your staff should know what it is. They should be able to describe a Kölsch and how Schlafly's compares to Reissdorf's. That goes for your wine selection as well. There's no reason I should hear "ummm... let me go ask" when I ask about a new beer on tap and what it is. Sell me your products!!
   
3. Be creative with your menu. Many of your customers eat out frequently and tire of the same old things - burgers, wraps, sandwiches, fries, onion rings, and so on. Gordon Biersch gets it, and Barley's is starting to (they now have seasonal salads). Check out The Brewer's Art in Baltimore or Higgins in Portland. Yes, these are bar menus. You don't have to get ultra-chic, and should provide at least some staples (can you spot the burger on Higgins' menu?). But get adventurous and offer seasonal, different items for those of us who enjoy trying new things.
   
4. Mind your beer. Rotate your taps and bottles frequently, clean your beer lines, and, for the love of all things holy, please don't serve us stale beer.
   

These seem kind of obvious, but they're clearly harder to pull off than it appears. Many places come close. I will say that it seems restaurants that focus primarily on food tend to have somewhat-decent beer menus, offering at least some Belgian beer and perhaps a couple items from Bells, Schlafly, or Boulevard. So why is it that good restaurants can make a decent attempt at providing good beer, but so many beer bars fail at providing good food?

There's one bartender at Barley's in Shawnee I always look for when I go, because he clearly knows beer. Elliott over at Waldo Pizza is now a Cicerone-certified Beer Server and also loves to talk beer. Both places have good food and beer selections; Waldo Pizza seems to swap out their kegs more frequently than Barley's, but Barley's usually has new stuff in bottles every time I go. They're about as close to great-beer-bar as we have here in KC... and guess where I spend most of my beer money.

title quote attributed to Plato

Local Updates

As I enjoy a Victory Prima Pils I picked up in PA a while back (mmm), I thought I'd post a handful of updates for today.

Looks like Founders isn't coming to MO until some time in June. The waiting continues.

Free State has a new website AND a blog. Their first (and, currently, only) post details a trip to Belgium last year for the brewers. Their full list of beers has also been updated and is so much easier to use (and drool-inducing). Speaking of beer - in addition to their regular lineup, they also have a porter and maibock on tap.

Waldo Pizza has Avery's Maharaja IIPA on tap. Had a glass of it last week and it was just as delicious as I'd remembered. And if you go on the right night, the new bartender might just serve it in a 16oz glass. ;)

Anderson Valley is taking KC by storm. They sure make some good beer, and now you can get more of it at Barley's in Shawnee. They've got Brother David Double & Tripel, as well as a handful of other new ones now and forthcoming (including Great Divide's Dunkelweiss, which I'm also very excited about). It's about time, Barley's - your beer list was getting a little stagnant (or is it just that I was going too frequently?).

Looks like Odell is coming out with a couple of seasonals soon. Woodcut #2, an oak-aged pale, will be in stores this month and their new Extra Pale Ale will be out this June.

Boulevard's Two Jokers Double Wit should be hitting stores soon... Remember that Boulevard is pairing up a Smokestack release with a seasonal. The Wit's partner is ZON, which is already in stores. I've been looking for Two Joker and have yet to see it, but expect it'll be there any day now.

And, while I'm definitely a dyed-in-the-wool hophead, I am VERY excited for Sierra Nevada's Kellerweis. "Kellerweis is one of the only American Hefeweizens made using the traditional Bavarian style of open fermentation. This difficult and labor-intensive technique adds uncommon depth and flavor complexity. Our hazy-golden hefeweizen is deeply flavorful, refreshing and perfect for a sunny day." AHH!! I love German styles and I love Sierra Nevada's beer. This one is bound to be a winner. (And speaking of Sierra Nevada, if you enjoy their stuff, check out their Brown Saison at Flying Saucer while it lasts).

That's it for now. Hopefully that'll keep everyone busy for a while.

And in Local News...

I recently received an email via Free State's mailing list (sign up!), as well as an update from the Foundry (I e-mailed them a while back with praise for Left Hand's Smokejumper and apparently Todd there kept my email). Here's the latest:

Happy Birthday Free State! To celebrate, they'll have 20 beers on tap (12-15 at any given time) between 2/18 and 2/23. Once a keg blows, they put another on, so your selection will be varied throughout this time frame. We'll be there Friday after work. Will you?

The Foundry in Westport recently got a few new kegs in. They have a keg of Hopslam, one of Val Dieu Grand Cru, and another of Duchesse de Bourgogne.


Oh, and regarding my post about New Belgium's Dark Kriek aka Dunkelweiss 30. I emailed Barley's and apparently it is the dunkelweiss. It's the strangest dunkelweiss I've ever had, with overwhelming flavors of dried cherries and chocolate. Most reviews I've read on beeradvocate and ratebeer state similarities to banana bread, which I completely did not get. I think I'll have to make the sacrifice and try this one again, as all I really tasted the first time around was dried cherry, a little raisin, caramel, and chocolate. Maybe my tastebuds were broken that night. It's possible.

Various Random Comments

It's Saturday in Missouri and it's 70 degrees outside in early February. I'm celebrating, which means I'm on my 2nd beer and it's only 3pm. But, despite that, I have a few comments:

1. I work out in Shawnee, near the nexus of Shawnee-Mission Parkway and K-7. As a result, I've been to K-7 Liquor more than a few times to check out the selection. Despite its location, it carries a veritable cornucopia (as John would say) of beer options. I was asked to pick up "something Irish" on Friday for Beer Friday and ventured over to K-7 Liquor. As I perused the options, one of the employees asked me if I needed any help. His name is James and I feel he deserves props. He's extremely knowledgeable about beer (even hop types) and made a recommendation to me that was on the mark (Great Divide's Fresh Hop, which is an APA hoppier than any IPA I've had out of the midwest and absolutely delicious). He's going to hold a couple of Boulder Brewing's Mojo Risin' and a 6-pack of SN's Torpedo for me (coming next week and next month, respectively). If you ever find yourself in this area, see if James is working and ask him for a recommendation. And thank him for working with his distributor to get some hoppy beer into NE Kansas. 
2. We went to Barley's in OP last night for dinner, after purchasing a kegerator for our homebrew off Craigslist. They have two new brews from New Belgium, Mighty Arrow and Dark Kriek (from their Lips of Faith series). Mighty Arrow is an APA and the Dark Kriek is a delicious blend of Belgian Dark Ale and Kriek. The Kriek is highly recommended - I had a snifter and thoroughly enjoyed it... it reminded me of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia - notes of dried cherry, vanilla, dark chocolate. It is dry but not sour, and way too easy to drink. They had several new items on tap and the bartender mentioned that they're working on improving their IPA selections. It shows.
3. A few weeks ago I bought a bottle of Schlafly's Tripel. We just opened it today and it is by FAR my favorite from this brewery. It is a fantastic representation of the Belgian style - dry, estery, banana-y, a tiny bit peppery, potent. This is delicious!! HIGHLY recommended.

John's making a tripel today and I need to go do some sanitizing stuff. We're going to check out Grinder's tonight so I plan on reporting back on its current offerings. Ciao!

Kansas City Brewing Co?

We were at Barley's in Shawnee the other night, at the bar. The bar itself is quite nice, decorated with scattered beer labels covered by a thick lacquer. Most of the labels are retro, but some of them are relatively modern. One label is for Yardbird's, a golden ale that 75th Street brewing used to make (in the 90s, from what I can tell). 

The address on the label was right - 520 W 75th St. But the logo and name of the brewery were different. The logo had some barley stalks around some buildings (if I recall correctly), and the name of the brewery was "Kansas City Brewing Co."

I've Googled around this morning, looking for indications of a change in name or ownership, but can't find a thing. Perhaps some of the native KCers can help me out. Was 75th Street once named Kansas City Brewing Co? Did they used to package their beer? Was this a fake label? Was this something that was made when 75th Street Brewing was just a twinkle in the founder's eye? Enquiring minds want to know!

Later, Gator

We went to Barley's in Shawnee for dinner & a couple of beers tonight. I enjoyed a lovely Grimbergen Abbey Ale & a Great Divide Titan IPA. While deciding what to get, I sampled both the Bitch Creek ESB and Abita Andygator. Now, I generally like Abita's brews and highly recommend Turbodog. Andygator, however... I'm inclined to wonder what they were thinking. Helles doppelbock? I'm thinking light in color but malty, dry, a bit boozy.

It's somewhat light & very clear, like a German lager (a bit darker than a helles). The initial taste is a bit cloying, almost honey-like. Then the sweetness lingers... and keeps lingering... There's minimal hop aroma and almost an adjunct aftertaste. It was interesting. Abita's website describes it as having a "dry finish" but I didn't find that at all. It's possible it was a bad keg, but given the reviews on Beeradvocate.com, I don't think so. Someone described it perfectly - "tastes mostly like sweetened water."

Barley's did, however, have Ommegang's Chocolate Indulgence on tap. Get it while you can - this is one delicious brew.