Beer Made Clear: The Session # 38 OR Beer Blogging Fridays

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Session # 38 OR Beer Blogging Fridays

The Session # 38

Sweetwater Tavern’s barrel-aged Desert Imperial Stout is a beer I have recently tasted that deserves a place on a pedestal. Better yet it deserves a cool, dark place in your cellar. With a dry finish, this stout has a flavor profile more complex than most $30 bottles of wine. This stout is to the Imperial style what Rodenbach is to Flanders sour. While the stout is fairly demanding on your tastes buds, I think this beer is an outlier in the cask aged category. This stout stands out primarily because it has an incredibly layered flavor profile and is complex without cloying: I was pleased to taste flavors completely distinct without any hints of whiskey or wine. Second, because it had been aged for several years, I didn’t feel that it needed further aging. This is an amazing beer at over two years old. I wonder if the yeast used is a vigorous strain…it’s nearly as dry as a Sauvignon Blanc!

I should let the reader know that I sampled the stout at the Brickskeller’s Annual “Strong Ale Tasting Extravaganzee.” Nick Funnell, Sweetwater Tavern brewmaster, was brought on stage in addition to Sweet Water Tavern’s two other brewmasters on February 23, 2010.

Any non beer geek shouldn’t be put off by the fact that a black beer has a khaki-colored head. Indeed, this is nothing uncommon in the world of beer. However, amongst beer style-purists, a stout has a white head, only porter features the darker off-white head. Is it remarkable for a stout to have an off white head?… Not necessarily. Is it remarkable that this one does? Absolutley!

Unfortunately, this beer is only available on draft, so you will never be able to sample the beer I had the privilege of tasting on February 23, 2010.

Of course, Nick Funnel is a brilliant brewmaster. However, there are still many “brewmasters” with GABF Silvers whose libations I DO NOT quaff. For more of Nick, check him out at the National Geographic Society’s May 5th event. Tickets can be purchased here.

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After being in semi-seclusion for four years in rural Pennsylvania as he reached toward a degree in Psychology he would probably never use, Jonathan discovered a love of words, and began to use more of them on a daily basis - both on paper and by use of his vocal chords. You can find some of his writing on Popmatters.com, Glide Magazine’s HiddenTrack blog and Relix.com, but most of it can be found on the floor of his home or stashed away in files on his computer. He has recently fled the comforts of home in New York City for the vast open spaces of Colorado, where he breathes fresh air and is reaching towards a higher degree in Creative Writing. Aside from his work on BeerMadeClear, Jonathan is also the co-founder of the music-related website NoiseReport.net.

I hated beer the first time I drank some, but don't hold it against me, I was about 8 at the time. Then in 8th grade my older sister took me to a pool party at her friend's house and I tasted my first Pete's Wicked Strawberry Blonde. These days I tend to stay away from the fruitier flavored beers, but I owe my beer adventuring to that wonderful brew.

Since the time of my beer virginity I have gone through many phases of being a booze hound, including the high school drink whatever you can get your hands on phase, the college drink the cheapest beer you can find phase, the post college drink as many different kinds of beer as you can phase and am currently in the drink whatever I feel like phase.

Along with drinking beer, I also love to travel and find new beers, brew my own beer, drink wine, whiskey and tequila, and go to beer related events such as festivals and pub crawls. These passions have led to many trips to Europe, across North America and even a short stint in Brazil.

Looking back, the day that I became a true beer enthusiast was during my sophomore year in college when I tried a bottle of Troegs HopBack. Before that, I drank natty light or whatever was available at college parties, and whatever I could steal from my neighbors' garages in high school. One sip of that sweet brew forever changed my perception of what beer could be. Having the Selinsgrove brew pub around only fueled my passion for great beers (their IPA is still the best in my mind)

After graduation, I was lost for a year, working a job that I hated- selling insurance and financial products. The only things that kept me sane were playing music, brewing beer, and visiting the flying saucer in Raleigh NC. It is there that I was truly turned on to the world of Belgian brews. Trying such masterpieces as St. Bernadus ABT 12, Tripel Karmeliet, Delerium Tremens, Duvel, and Maredsous, I was once again amazed at the flavor spectrums that were made available in a beverage.

A year later, I moved back to PA, got a job selling beer and haven't looked back since. Prost!

Many of the beers I stole from my parents in high school made my mouth begin to water profusely after a few sips. Now, 10 years later, this phenomenon happens in reverse - I salavate at the sound of carbonation escaping from a bottle. Maybe I'm too dumb for my brain to appropriately catch on to Pavlov's theory of "Classical Conditioning" or maybe my taste buds just said screw it this guy's in for the long haul. I'm not sure. Either way, I've come to appreciate the many styles and flavors of beer that are around.

Who ever thought the "we'll talk in 10 years" conversation with your parents would sound like this: "Christopher, if you only put as much effort into doing something constructive as you do with your beer drinking you could get a lot done." I don't know what that really says, but as a former band member of the "Booze Brothers" according to my Dad, I would say that I thoroughly enjoy drinking beer.