San Diego Brewed: Green Flash Rayon Vert

Tags

Rayon Vert, Treasure Chest

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

I picked up this bottle of Rayon Vert, a recently (re-) released Belgian-Style Pale Ale from Green Flash with low expectations. Green Flash released a small amount of a beer called Treasure Chest in June of this year, which was a test run of sorts for Rayon Vert, Brewmaster Chuck Silva told me there were some minor recipe changes but they’re pretty similar.

Unfortunately I didn’t like Treasure Chest too much. Everytime I opened a bottle I smelled and tasted band-aids. This was most likely a result of the Brettanomyces used to bottle condition the beer. After pouring carefully into a glass (while being careful not to disturb the yeast at the bottom of the bottle) I took a whiff and was immediately reminded of plastic-smelling band-aids.

Upon first cautious sip however I didn’t taste much of the sort, instead I was greeted by fruity (pineapple?) like hops, a toast-like malt character, and a nice dry finish. Rayon Vert is bottle conditioned with Brett, so it will change over time, it’s hard to say if the band-aid like flavor will emerge (though with Treasure Chest it was there even when the beer was fresh). As Green Flash noted in a press release announcing the beer last month,

Because it is bottle conditioned, the beer will continue to change with age and there is no way to foresee what it will taste like after years in the bottle. Silva predicts that the results from this ageing process will be akin to Champagne.  He is convinced that Rayon Vert left to rest in the proper conditions will only improve over time.

Rayon Vert is a solid beer when fresh, hopefully it ages gracefully.

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A Beer Lover’s Guide to New Year’s Eve in San Diego

New Year’s Eve and beer (well alcohol in general) seem to go hand in hand. As such, there are plenty of beer related New Year’s eve happenings in San Diego this upcoming Saturday night.

If staying at home is your thing

Starting Friday and going through 6pm Saturday Stone Brewing Co. will be releasing various beers from the past year at their Growler Fill Year in Review. Both the Stone Store in Escondido and South Park will be filling growler’s with limited and special release beers from the past year.

If going all out is your thing

Stone Brewing Co.’s New Years Eve Party at the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens is the place to be. It’s not cheap (tickets will set you back $175) but it includes buffet dinner, live music, complimentary beer and a brewhouse dance party. Yes, you read that right, a brewhouse dance party.

If going to sleep early is your thing

Ring in the New Year with the Belgian’s at 3pm Pacific Time at Blind Lady Ale House. There will be a ton of great Belgian beer on tap of course. They’ll be open until 10pm if you decide to party a few hours into the (Belgian) New Year.

If you love Pizza Port but live in North Park

Head down to Toronado where starting at 11:30am and going through the night they’ll be filling all their taps with beers from all four Pizza Port locations. They say they’ll be posting the tap list to their website soon, but we expect there will be plenty of great beers no matter what they have.

If you want a cozy sit down dinner with great beer

Alpine Beer Co.’s Pub is the place to be. They’ll be serving a three course dinner with two beer (or wine) pairings for $35.95 which includes ‘Beeramisu’ Made with Captain Stout for dessert. Alpine Beer Co.’s pub is pretty small, so be prepared for it to possibly be a little crowded, but don’t let that deter you.

Didn’t find anything that sounded good here? Check out San Diego CityBeat’s comprehensive New Year’s Eve guide.

Ska Brewing Euphoria

Tags

canned craft beer, euphoria pale ale, Ska Brewing

Euphoria (Ska Brewing’s Winter seasonal) might be the perfect word to describe things right now: quality craft beer in a can, just enough snow to set the mood for a white Christmas (but not enough to require the driveway to be shoveled) and a bald eagle perched up in the tree.
Unfortunately Ska’s beers aren’t available in California, but that makes vacations all the better.

San Diego Brewed: The Alchemist / Ninkasi / Stone More Brown Than Black IPA

Tags

brown ipa, The Alchemist / Ninkasi / Stone More Brown Than Black IPA

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

The Alchemist / Ninkasi / Stone More Brown Than Black IPA is Stone Brewing Co.’s latest collaboration, and to me at least, it sort of flew under the radar until recently. I had heard about it a few months ago, then forgot all about it until a promotional sample from Stone showed up late last week.

Not knowing much about it until recently I had no idea that proceeds from sales will go to the Waterbury Good Neighbor Fund, a non-profit aiding families affected by Hurricane Irene. Hurricane Irene you might remember did massive destruction in Vermont (and other parts of the East Coast). The Alchemist brewery, which I wasn’t too familiar with until the hurricane is based in Vermont.

Looking over the ingredient list one thing stood out: “Super Galena hop extract for bittering.” Many craft brewers are experimenting with hop extract (and others have been using it for some time now, I believe Pliny the Elder uses some hop extract). I couldn’t remember hearing about Stone using hop extract before so I asked and Brewmaster Mitch Steele confirmed this was their first time. I’ll let Mitch explain:

The Alchemist / Ninkasi / Stone More Brown Than Black IPA is indeed our first release using hop extract. We’ve experimented with extract before, but have never been compelled to use it on any sort of regular basis. John Kimmich from The Alchemist actually suggested it, since he uses it in some of his beers. The fact is, a lot of the best Double IPAs are brewed with hop extract, which allows for what some feel is a cleaner bitterness. The lack of hop leaf material means that you can get more wort out of the brewhouse too, since less trub is formed. It is a little difficult to work with and messy though, which is one reason we don’t use it more, but it was fun to experiment with it in this beer! I think it turned out great.”

 

Black IPAs aren’t my favorite style, but I’m starting to get used to them. No longer do I get startled by a deliciously hoppy smelling black beer. The same can’t be said about brown beers. Pouring The Alchemist / Ninkasi / Stone More Brown Than Black IPA it looked like any other brown ale. But upon first whiff it was obvious this was no regular brown ale. Maybe it was the huge disconnect between what I expected based on the color and what my senses detected, but this was one of the best smelling beers I’ve come across. Huge piney hops. When people call a beer “dank” this is what they mean.

The taste is mostly hops as well, just like the smell lets on, huge piney hops, some citrusy orange/grapefruit hops. The hops really shine here, there isn’t a ton of malt, though a bit of roasted malt and maybe a hint of chocolate malt come through, the roast is far more subdued than many Black IPAs.

I’ll admit, I hope the “Brown IPA style” doesn’t catch on, but this one is another solid collaboration from Stone. I’ll certainly be picking up a few more bottles of this before it’s hoppy time runs out.

San Diego Brewed: Ballast Point Sculpin

Tags

sculpin ipa

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

Ballast Point Brewing Co.’s Sculpin IPA is a beer that I assume most people reading this blog know fairly well. At 7% ABV it’s right on the IPA/DIPA brink. It’s 70 IBU with a pretty light body and low malt profile which makes the hops really stand out.

Sculpin took the gold medal at the 2010 World Beer Cup in the IPA category, and it’s not hard to understand why. The hops jump out at you in both the smell and taste. It’s hugely fruity and juicy with smells and flavors reminiscent of all sorts of fruits: mango, peach, and apricot. I don’t get a ton of citrus flavors from it, but some people do. It’s not overly bitter, there’s plenty of hops but they showcase flavor over bitterness.

This is a beer that folks all over the country (and world) seek out, but we’re lucky enough to be able to get it year round with ease. Get a growler filled at the source (Ballast Point has two brewery locations with tasting bars/growler fills in San Diego) for the freshest possible taste. 22oz bombers typically cost between $7-8 while six packs of 12oz bottles go for around $15. I picked this 12oz bottle up at Bottlecraft for $2.50 (broken down from a six pack).

Jolly Pumpkin Collababeire

Tags

Collababeire, Jolly Pumpkin / Nogne-O / Stone Special Holiday Ale, Stone / Nogne O / Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale

A couple of years ago, Stone Brewing Co., Nøgne Ø, and Jolly Pumpkin got together to brew Special Holiday Ale in Escondido. After that the same recipe (which used chestnuts, juniper berry, white sage, caraway seed and rye malt) was brewed at both Nøgne Ø and Jolly Pumpkin’s breweries. The Nøgne Ø version came out about a year after the original brewed at Stone, and then Jolly Pumpkin version (dubbed Collababeire) was aged in oak barrels and released on a very limited basis earlier this year.

From what I’ve heard very few bottle shops in San Diego got this Jolly Pumpkin version when it was first released in the Spring. But now that it’s the Holiday season, it seems as if more is being released from the distributor. Bottlecraft posted on their New Arrivals page that they got some in, and while I haven’t heard about any other shops getting any, I’d be surprised if Bottlecraft was the only one.

The Jolly Pumpkin version is a great beer, and if you’ve hung on to the previous two releases makes for a nice tasting of all three together. According to Peter Rowe at Signon San Diego Stone, will be releasing some bottles at 11am on Sunday in Escondido. Rowe doesn’t specify if they’ll be for sale at the Stone Store for take away consumption, or in the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens for on-premise consumption, nor does he elaborate on which version will be available, but regardless, they’re all pretty good. The original Stone brewed version seemed like it had dropped off a bit when I tasted it in the Spring, so I wouldn’t recommend holding any bottles past this Holiday season.

San Diego Brewed: Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi

Tags

Gift of the Magi

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

Gift of the Magi, the Christmas seasonal from The Lost Abbey is a beer I pick up a bottle of every year around this time of year. As a beer it doesn’t blow me away, and I usually only have it once or twice a year, but there’s something about it that causes me to pick it up each year.

I don’t think The Lost Abbey ever defines the beer style (they refer to it as a “Golden Ale”) but general consensus (at least on Ratebeer and Beeradvocate) seems to be that it’s a Bière de Garde.

Lost Abbey describes it as such

It seems that everyone knows the story of the Three Kings. Sent to follow the star in the sky each brought a gift for the baby they sought. One King brought Gold, the other Frankincense and the other Myrrh. Many breweries produce a Christmas Seasonal beer and this is our beer to celebrate the holiday season.

 

Gold in color and bittered with the bark of Frankincense, we have even used the smallest amount of Myrrh which is an herb that has roots in ancient winemaking as well.

 

A massive Golden Ale fit for a king (or Queen) we offer the Gift of the Magi each holiday season.

At 9.5% Gift of the Magi makes a nice Winter beer even though the style isn’t the first thing I think of having this time of year.

A dark reddish brown (I wouldn’t call it Golden in color) with a small white head, an earthy smell is the first thing that stands out. I’m pretty sure there’s Brett in there, but this beer is pretty fresh so it doesn’t stand out much. I’ve heard great things about 2-3 year old Gift of the Magi, but never aged a bottle myself (note to self: pick up another bottle). There’s also a slightly sweet, berry-like smell in addition to the earthiness.

It’s pretty bitter, I’m not familiar with Frankincense so I can’t pinpoint that specifically, but it is an earthy bitterness. There’s some toasty grain sweetness and a strong alcohol kick at the end of each sip. There’s no denying this beer is close to ten percent alcohol, making it a sipper. There’s a long bitter after taste which is somewhat plastic-tasting. I expected more spice but just didn’t find it.

Gift of the Magi isn’t my favorite beer, but isn’t a bad beer. I think I’ll put one away for a year or two to see how it changes.

Photo: CC Flickr:the_photographer

More Pizza Port News

Tags

hollister brewing, jeff bagby, Noah Regnery, Pizza Port cans, pizza port carlsbad, pizza port palomar airport rd, pizza port production facility

Some more Pizza Port news to report following Monday’s post about Head Brewer and Director of Brewing Operations Jeff Bagby’s plans to leave Pizza Port to open his own brewery…

• As reported by Barbara Henry at the North County Times, Pizza Port has plans to build a 37,050-square-foot new facility to be located in Carlsbad at Palomar Airport Rd and Gateway Rd. Not only will this be Pizza Port’s fifth restaurant location, but it will also serve as a production and distribution facility. The production side of things will brew beer and produce pizza dough in bulk for Pizza Port’s restaurants. Henry also  reports that it will also house a canning facility. It sounds like things are still in the early planning stages, so there’s always the possibility that plans will change, but Pizza Port beer in cans (and presumably wider distribution) sounds pretty cool to me. Pizza Port’s proposal goes before the Carlsbad’s Planning Commission tonight at 6pm. A copy of the report to the Planning Commission can be seen here.

• I heard back from Jeff Bagby and he tells me that he’ll be staying on at Pizza Port through the end of the month. He says he’ll take a bit of time off before he starts full time on his own brewery project. He also mentioned that while his brewing position at Pizza Port Carlsbad will be filled by Ignacio (Nacho) Cervantes (as Gina Marsaglia told me), there is not as of yet a replacement for his operations position with Pizza Port. According to Bagby the recipes he developed while at Pizza Port are owned by Pizza Port and will stay with the brewpub.

• I had heard previously that Pizza Port San Clemente Head Brewer Noah Regnery was leaving for Hollister Brewing in Goleta  but didn’t have more details. Beernews.org tracked down a tweet from Regnery about training his replacement. Ryan Fields, former Lead Brewer at Port Brewing/Lost Abbey has taken over as Head Brewer at Pizza Port San Clemente.

This post was updated at 3:19pm on 12/7/2011

Jeff Bagby Leaving Pizza Port, Plans to Open New Brewery

Tags

jeff bagby, pizza port carlsbad head brewer

I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend this past weekend’s Stong Ale Festival at Pizza Port Carlsbad (the beer list looked fantastic).

I did hear that Jeff Bagby, head brewer at Pizza Port Carlsbad has announced that he’s leaving Pizza Port with plans to open his own brewery. From what I hear he’ll be staying on in a consulting role for a while as he looks for a location for his future brewery.

Bagby has been the Head Brewer at Pizza Port Carlsbad since 2005 and I believe he has been Director of Brewing Operations for all four Pizza Port brewpubs. Under Bagby Pizza Port Carlsbad has brought home the “Large Brewpub of the Year” award at the Great American Beer Festival for the last three years as well as numerous medals.

I have an email into both Pizza Port and Jeff Bagby and will update this post if I get more info about who will become the new head brewer at Pizza Port Carlsbad or Bagby’s future plans.

UPDATE: Gina Marsaglia, co-founder/co-owner of Pizza Port had this to say: “Yes, Jeff is leaving and we are sorry to see him go, but luckily Ignacio Cervantes (Nacho) who has been the assistant to Jeff is going to continue to brew and some of our other guys are stepping up to fill most of Jeff’s duties until we find someone who will be a perfect fit. Hard to fill those shoes for sure!”

Photo from Jeff Bagby’s Facebook page.

San Diego Brewed: Manzanita Brewing Company Where There’s Smoke

Tags

smoked chili beer, Where There's Smoke

San Diego Brewed is sponsored by Bottlecraft.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

Where There’s Smoke is a fairly new release from Manzanita Brewing Company. I didn’t know much about it before picking up a bottle earlier this week at Bottlecraft ($6.75 for 22oz). I’m pretty sure Manzanita was pouring it at The Brewer’s Guild Festival last month, if I remember right a friend even mentioned that it was one of his favorite beers at the fest, but I didn’t get to try it.

All I knew about it before picking up the bottle was that it was a smoked beer, I didn’t know it was made with rye, nor did I know it was brewed with chili peppers. While I enjoy both from time to time, neither smoked beers nor chili beers are big favorites of mine, but since I’d heard good things I decided to give Where There’s Smoke a try. And I’m glad I did, it’s a delicious beer.

It’s much darker than I expected, I’m not sure why I thought it would be a lighter beer, but for some reason I though it would be more of a caramel color. The smell tells you right away that this is a smoked beer, there’s tons of smokey malt with just a hint of spicy pepper smell.

The first sip is all smoke, it’s not overwhelming but I didn’t get much else to begin with. The heat from the chili peppers was mostly non-existent until swallowing, when a pleasant spiciness emerged. Not a taste bud scorching heat, but a good flavor with enough heat. As I drank more I started to get a bit of spiciness up front that seemed different than the chili pepper heat on the end. I’m not sure if this spiciness was from the rye or if that was just my taste buds playing tricks on me. There wasn’t any grainy or bread-like flavors that some rye  beers can have.

I’m not sure if Where There’s Smoke is a limited release, seasonal or if it will become a regular release, but I’d recommend trying it if you get the chance.