Saint Sylvestre 3 Monts With Munster

This Post is in part inspired by beer writer Garrett Oliver. His book directed me towards the pairing of this Biere de Garde with a turkey dinner followed by stinky French cheese (farmhouse french beer meets pungent French cheese, seems to make sense).

Saint Sylvestre 3 Monts is pretty old school Biere de Garde style beer hailing from the French Flanders. Beers like this are so simple and rustic I love them to pieces, and you could probably never tell this was 8.5% tasting it blind. It's balanced, earthy, herbal, grainy and brilliantly balanced. My old uni mate Ed told me about this beer once. He described his state of mellowness as he kicked back smiling while his brain cells slowly fizzled away. So I was intrigued.

The obvious first choice cheese for this one was the only stinky washed rind French cheese available at the time. Munster. The other two cheeses on the board were Cashel Blue, chosen for its soft texture and herbal like flavours, and Berwick Edge (kind of like Northumberland’s answer to Gruyere or aged Gouda). Cashel seemed to sit with the beer OK, lots of herbal peppery notes going on, but no fireworks. Whereas Berwick Edge didn't seem to go at all, like it didn't want anything to do with this French beer.

With Munster however, a strikingly mellow yet fascinatingly awesome set of harmonies are created. The cheese smells a bit like sweaty socks (which is why my wife wouldn't go near the stuff), and on the palate is creamy, earthy, funky and mellow (is how I would best describe it). The beer seems to possess that similar mellow, earthy, savoury complexity but in liquid form. So undeniably drinkable at 8.5%. The pairing was excellent, but according to Mr Garrett this kind of beer is also great with even more pungent, stinky French cheeses such as Liverot (that's about as stinky as they get) so will leave this open for future experimentation.

Stone Night: I’m not worthy!

I have often thought some of Stone’s bottle artwork would suit a death metal album cover



Most familiar with the San Diego based Stone brewery know them for their aggressively marketed heavily hopped bold West Coast style American ales. I myself first encountered Stone beers a few years back on holiday in California and enjoyed many of there offerings including the accurately named 'Arrogant Bastard Ale'. Anyhow, after obtaining a few bottles from the Internet, I decided to have a special night dedicated to stone and consume the three bottles I had. I even wore my 'Arrogant Bastard Ale, Your not worthy' t-shirt for the occasion. It was almost like being back in California... Except for the overcast weather, Co-op over the road, smaller cars and the fact I was actually in the humble Northumberland town of Alnwick. In fact earlier that day down Alnwick Market a bloke at a stall questioned if there really was a beer called Arrogant Bastard Ale? I told him it was in from California, I mean it wouldn't be British would it, the nanny state wouldn't allow such things, and at 7.2% alcohol! My god, this could spark a binge drinking epidemic! Anyhow, I digress.


Anyway, as many of you may know, Stone brewery is owned by Greg Koch, if your not familiar Greg, the coolest guy in beer, well... Your probably not real beer geek. He was also the bloke behind this video and is on my list of most wanted head brewer/brewery owner autographs. 

It’s like he’s handing me the first beer

Ruination IPA.

So, first up was the Ruination IPA. As the label clearly states, this is 100+ IBU beer. In short this means the technique of total un-relentless brutal hopping has been used to obtain the extraction of as many bitter hop soft resins as possible from the hops in to the finished beer. Pretty hardcore, and the first time I tried this beer back in California, I remember being totally slightly overwhelmed by the vicious assault of concentrated resinous citrus hops. After the first half pint it got better and I gave it the benifit of the doubt. It was only near the end of the glass I actually started thinking this beer was actually good. This time I was bracing myself.

Ruination IPA, 7.7% and over 100 IBU. Don't mess.

But this time the shock and awe didn't have the same effect. Was it because I was ready for it? Was it because I'm a more experienced beer drinker now? Or was it because the bottle was only just out of date (hop bitterness fades over time) and had travelled half way across the globe? Ether way, it still tasted like the unstoppable avalanche of fortified hops I remember and this time I actually liked it more. Hop heads love this kind of beer, and I can see why. If your craving the hops, and want a testosterone driven sledge hammer to the face attack of bitterness units coming at ya from the glass then this beer is defiantly recommended. I personally prefer Stone's standard IPA better.

Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale.

Next up, Oaked Arrogant Bastard ale. Basically, after clearly remembering the awesomeness of Arrogant Bastard Ale, I decided to get hold of an Oaked version. Apparently Arrogant Bastard Ale was apparently invented by an accidental over hopping of a developing pale ale. It was going to be scrapped but Greg loved it so much developed it further. I'm not sure where the name comes from exactly. The beer itself (the oaked version in this case) drinks a bit more mellow than the original. Rich amber in color opening on the palate with kind of oak smoked complexity layered over (and taming slightly) the familiar citric hop resin flourish and bulked out bready fruity malt. This intense, slightly rich brew finishes with signature lingering hop resins. Thumbs up for this one, almost as good as the original but that would depend what mood I was in.

Sublimely Self Righteous Ale.

Sublimely self righteous ale, at 8.7% gave the impression of being the breweries kind of 'tribute to everything we do' brew (reading the long passage on the back). Believe me this one is good. Probably the best Stone beer I have tried with exception to Old Guardian Barley Wine maybe. It pours an almost black/very deep mahogany amber with that signature Stone aroma... Hops, lots of hops... American hops, over some dark fruit notes. Flavor wise its pretty interesting. Like a rich fruity, fruitcake like bready malt base (think Heavy Scotch ales) with US hops basting right through it. Sort of contrasting yet balancing the malt sweetness. A little different and intriguing, with various dimensions to it, but intensity and balance make this awesome to drink. A good one to finish the night on.


So. Some might think this was a bit light weight only having 3 beers, but (considering the high abv's) for me it was enough. It’s rarely beneficial to drink copious amounts of these kinds of beers, you won’t last long. In fact I once remember Greg himself clearly challenge drinkers to drink less beer. Does that make sense? It was one of Greg's tangents on the back of an Old Guardian barley wine bottle. A good theory that I agree with. Drink for quality, not volume. A little a lot, a lot a little.   

August 4th: Spoons Festival ale exclusive tasting session.

This Wednesday our friends the Leeds Weatherspoons management team (like I say, a great bunch a lads) came over for a little visit to try our Spoons Festival ale which I had lovingly racked into a pin and conditioned for a few days for them. My job was to prepare and hand out samples before talking through my take on the beer, and what ingredients were used, and so forth. Although slightly nervous I found the free half hour of sampling and talking about beer refreshing, and strategically I had got into work early so my morning duties were out the way before the party was underway. And as it goes our management friends enjoyed the beer and found it a worthy offering. So did I, and as a bonus I got a free pork pie out of it. The beer itself went down well, but I only have a few minor criticisms.

First to mention is that although I can envision many people liking this beer, I can also see a lot of hop heads that love US style IPA's finding it mediocre. Conversely this means this unchallenging character could attract those intrigued by the style but not ready to take on the more aggressively hopped offerings yet. It doesn't drink like a 5.8% beer and the aroma isn't as upfront as I wanted. However what I do like about this beer is it's composure. It seems to open with pithy orange, tangerine like Centennial hop derived notes before juicy malt balances in the finish of fading hop resins. The Daleside house character (never dry)seems to hold everything just about in balance. For those intrigued, I advise to head over to the Spoons Festival in Leeds, August 21-29th and try it out.        

Madcap: New Scot's on the block?

Ever heard of Madcap? This new Scottish minature 1 barrel brewery started in November 2009 based in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway. Story goes ma man Adam, at my local specialist drinks shop hispirits, formerly beer ritz, suggested I tried these Mad Cap beers from the breweries contemporary bottled beer range. So I thought instead of trying one, I'll go for all the three available. What intrigued me firstly was the quirky labelling, then the alcohol contents, 9%, 10%, 9%. So no holding back on the abv's here. Here are some short reviews conducted from my newly acquired garden.

Trippple Madness.
9% Belgian Triple style ale.

Pale golden with little to no head and loads of CO2. Aromas are peculiar and hard to describe... A little like opal fruit sweets. On the palate is immediately sweet with tropical and berry fruit lifted by high carbonation (think fruit sorbet) with malt sweetness reappearing in the finish.

Liquorish ale.
10% Imperial Stout.

A fairly bold imperial stout reminiscent of many American interpretations but just that bit sweeter. Smooth chocolate, bready toasted malt and a sort of inky liquorish sweetness dominate this one. I also found it to go great with Ben & Jerry's Baked Alaska Ice Cream. Creamy white chocolate meets rich milk chocolate with liquorish notes underpinning. I would have tried pouring it over If I had another bottle.

Honey Madness.
9%

Kind of a high gravity pale ale infused with Auldgirth honey. At first I was expecting this to be a kind of a high gravity summer quaffer, but its pretty heavy. Pours a deep auburn bronze/mahogany with caramelised candy like aromas. Flavours combine a honey malt richness with sticky toffee and Werther's Original sweets followed by more rich honey. So again rich, fairly sweet and complex. This one found a soft spot for some Cornish Brie I was nibbling on at the time.

Pretty interesting beers that love to play on the complex sweet/rich notes. Impressive for such a tiny plant, and good products often mean a good future so we might be seeing more of these guys in the future. It would be good to try some of their cask beers. Has anyone yet?

If I 'owned' work...

This is kind of an off the wall fantasy post based on what I was thinking about the other day, which was 'what would I do if I owned Daleside brewery?'. I'm sure every beer geek fantasises about the romantic side of owning a brewery and brewing their own beer. OK I will probably never own Daleside, and am not sure if I would ever want to, but if I did the following ideas would be carried out.

Morocco Ale:

This most recognised speciality beer will be permanently intensified from its standing 5.5% to 7% abv. Special 'single batch reserve' batches will be aged in port, bourbon and Madeira oak casks for bottling. Announcement dates would be made for releases.    

Monkey Wrench:

Our much loved dark strong ale won't be changed, but a spin off version, even stronger, more brutal than the original (at about 8%) would be brewed called 'Double Monkey Wrench Imperial Brown Ale' would be brewed. Same formulation but intensified.

Other beers: 

An Imperial Stout, a Saison for summer and an annual Daleside Vintage reserve ale (at about 9% brewed to a slightly different recipe each year) would also be brewed. An Imperial Pilsner and Dunkel Weazen Bock would be added to the bottled beer portfolio. 

Other Stuff:

All bottled beers about 5% abv would be bottled in 330ml bottles (not 500ml) and our dark brown bitter 'Old Leg Over' would be re-named 'Arrogant Dalesman Ale', Old Lubrication would be changed for a 7.4% Chinook, Simco and Centennial hopped to 75IBU India Pale ale called 'Hop Monster 5000' (with a follow on one off  'Hop Monster 10000' being a 9.3% 120IBU double IPA. I would still brew once or twice a week and when I did I would brew to some brutal music like Black Dahlia Murder or classic Slayer. However, much of my time would have to be spent in a leather coated swivel chair in the office wearing shades and a green and crimson red suit (possibly smoking cigars). This I would wear to some of the companies new prestigious events that I would organise. A beer and cheese evening, beer and chocolate night and a huge beer dinner where I would invite the likes of Garrett Oliver, Randy Mosher, Melissa Cole, The Beer Wench, Mark Dredge, Woolpacker Dave, Adrian Tierney-Jones, Brew Dogs Martin & James, Zak Avery and my mate Ed to the event celebrating our 25th year anniversary (or something like that) with the Daleside crew.

Other than that, wouldn't change a thing...