Mongo The Marvelous

I had outlined a scathing post on how I was annoyed and fatigued with double IPAs.  The thought of facing yet another syrupy, over-hopped double IPA was too much.  DIPAs were not only wrecking my palate and leaving a sticky coat of hop resin in my mouth, but were starting to ruin the evening every time I had one.  Last summer's disastrous, barbeque squashing Shipyard XXXX put me over the edge.  I was set to renounce former DIPA favorites like Ballast Point's Dorado and Alesmith's Summer Yulesmith, along with Avery's Maharaja, Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum and others, and declare the era of the DIPA over.  Then I had Port Brewing's Mongo Double IPA and it upset the whole snarky post.  Mongo restored my faith in DIPAs and reminded me why I once liked the style so much.

One reason I tried Mongo was the requests I'd received from bloggers back East to ship them growlers of it.  With this amount of interest I figured it was worth going back to the DIPA well once more to give Mongo a chance.  I am glad I did (and seriously, I didn't need that much convincing to try Mongo).   Mongo poured cloudy with an Indian Summer Orange color and a tight, cream-colored foam.  Mongo is hoppy without ruining the taste buds and sweet without becoming cloying.  Its hops are aggressive, but not to the point of distraction, which can happen in a DIPA.  It has enough malt to match the hops, giving it strong balance.  Mongo falls into the piney side of the citrus / pine IPA flavor spectrum.   The bitterness lasts from the first sip and stays long into the finish, but it never becomes unpleasant.  Most important, it does not leave an annoying film in your mouth, which too me is a night-ender. 

Mongo's ABV is 8%, which is low for a DIPA, and may account for its lack of cloying and sticky characteristics.  I found this level of ABV appealing, as Mongo wasn't at all boozy.  It reminded my of Pliny the Elder or Stone's Ruination, other approachable DIPAs with similar ABVs that sacrifice nothing in flavor.  I was going to suggest that like the IPA pine/citrus divide, DIPAs have an ABV divide, where above a certain ABV, DIPAs become overhopped and too sweet and syrupy to enjoy.  But this is not as elegant a benchmark as I'd like to make it, because DIPAs can have a high ABV and remain crisp.  (Port Brewing's monster Nickle Bag falls in to this category.)

Mongo is an excellent DIPA.  But I am going to approach the style with caution.  I really don't like to drink a beer that I could just as easily pour on a bowl of breakfast cereal.

(I recommend the Hedonist Jive's review of Hoptimum, it encapsulates my thoughts on the beer.)

Red Poppy

I have always been skeptical of beers that generate buzz in the beer geek world.  The Lost Abbey's Red Poppy is one of those beers that is both rare and hyped, and I avoided buying it at $17 for a 375 ml bottle.  But when I was told it was going to be on tap at the Ocean Beach Pizza Port as part of a Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey night, I decided to go get a tulip glass full to taste for myself whether it was hype worthy.

I can unequivocally state that Red Poppy is worth the hype.  It is flat-out delicious, with its perfect complement of fruit and sourness.  Red Poppy is a Belgian-style Flanders Red Ale.  It poured with no foam and its color was an opaque mahogany, and like many Flanders Red Ales, Red Poppy was not the prettiest of beers.  But it was brewed for drinking not a beauty contest.  It is a sour beer with a sweet, fruit presence and hints of oak.  Red Poppy has more carbonation than its thin head would suggest.  Its sourness last long into the finish, which also had a touch of bitterness that accented the beer's sweetness.  Red Poppy's ABV is only 5.5%, but it drinks bigger than its ABV.  It has a richness I was not expecting and a full mouthful that is almost chewy.  This beer works on every level.

The Flanders Red Ale style has wide variation and interpretations.  You can find ABVs near 4% and over 10%, and sourness that ranges from mild to aggressive.   I reviewed Deschutes The Dissident, also a Flanders Red Ale, a few weeks back and found it lacking.  Its ABV was near 10% and its sourness was less pronounced, and it was not as approachable as Red Poppy.   Personal preferences will lead you towards either lower ABV beers like Red Poppy or Ommegang's Zuur, or towards bigger beers like The Dissident.  What ever your preference, Red Poppy is amazing.  Ocean Beach Pizza Port still had Red Poppy on tap late yesterday evening, but the five gallon keg is not expected to last much beyond today.  Get a tulip if you can.

San Diego Beer Events

I make sure to read San Diego Beer Blog every Thursday (and most other days, too) as it publishes a list of beer events for the coming week, which includes tastings, releases, dinners or any other notable beer-related shindig.  It is the most comprehensive list that I know.  The San Diego Union's Peter Rowe has long been the champion and source of San Diego beer events.  Rowe now puts his list on his beer blog, but his list of events is typically not as comprehensive as San Diego Beer Blog's, although this week's list of events is good and a subsequent post announcing a Cantillon event at Stone Brewing and an Italian craft brewer Bruton at Hamilton's are worth putting on the calendar.  I should note that Rowe only announces events for an upcoming weekend and San Diego Beer Blog lists events for a whole week.

While The Wife's Away IPA - Part 2

I can stop being selfish and finally write this post now that I have had several growlers of Pizza Port Ocean Beach's While The Wife's Away IPA (WTWA).  It's time to let the secret out that WTWA is an outstanding, limited release IPA.  The current batch on tap is the final brewing of WTWA this season, as it used all the remaining fresh hops.   I recommend getting down to Ocean Beach and getting a pint or two of WTWA before the kegs run dry.

There are so many IPAs on the market that it is the rare IPA that gives me pause.  When I tasted WTWA around Christmas I was impressed by its freshness, sharp citrus hops and balance.  I was told it was going to be in regular rotation but then it disappeared for two months.  When it came back in late February I raced down to get a growler and clarification on whether WTWA was a regular beer or not.  Well, it's not a regular beer, it is a fresh-hop IPA seasonal and won't be back for about six months. 

WTWA is a juicy, citrus flavored IPA. It is a fresh hop IPA, and the hop bitterness jumps out at the front and lasts into the finish.  What struck me about WTWA was its earthiness.  Wine makers stress terroir, or the land where the grapes were grown as the sign of a quality wine.   I have never thought of this description for a beer before, but WTWA has terroir, from wherever its hops and malts were grown.   Its earthiness imparts a richness and depth that most fresh hop IPAs lack. 

The Ocean Beach Pizza Port brewed another fresh-hop IPA last fall called Get Wet.  I liked Get Wet but I can't directly compare it to WTWA since it's been nearly six months since I have had it.  Get Wet's hop presence, like many fresh-hop IPAs, seemed more ephemeral than WTWA.  Its initial shock of hops quickly disappeared.  WTWA's hop profile is just as pronounced, but it has much longer finish to go with its earthiness.  The other IPA in Ocean Beach is Jetty.  It's a decent beer, but the balance is too heavily tilted towards hops, which leads to quick taste bud fatigue.  WTWA is Ocean Beach Pizza Port's best IPA.   It is well worth making the trip to Ocean Beach to enjoy WTWA while it's available.

Restaurants and Craft Beer

Below is a video starring Stone Brewing's Greg Koch from the website SellingCraftBeer.com.   The video's target audience is restaurant owners, and it explains the benefits to a restaurant's bottom line by offering craft beer.



This blog has tried to make the same point from a customer's point of view.  Restaurants that want a reputation (and repeat customers) for good food, need good beer.  I try to avoid restaurants that aren't serious about their beer selection.  I believe that if a restaurant is not serious about its beer (and wine) than it can't be serious about its food.  I'm not unreasonable, I am not asking for every restaurant to have twenty craft taps, just a few well thought out selections is all I need. 

British Beer

I found this article in last Saturday's Financial Times interesting.  The story is worth reading if only for the quote below from Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) co-founder Michael Hardman:

“Everybody’s different. I reckon if my mother-in-law drank 14 units a month she’d be dead, she just couldn’t take it. If I had to cut down to 14 units I’d be dead, because I’d be bored stiff,” growls Hardman.

I am guessing units are pints.  The article did not do much to change the impression that Camra is just a bunch of rocky middle-aged men.

Deschutes The Dissident

I drank a 22 oz bomber of Deschutes' The Dissident last night, a beer that I hadn't tried before.  The Dissident is a Flanders Oud Bruin, or a tart brown ale.  I have had several sours lately and like their unique flavor, but I am no means an expert in this expansive style.  The Dissident is brewed with cherries, which kind of gave it a sweet and sour characteristic.  The beer poured clear, with a copper color, imparted with a red hue from the cherries.  There was just a wisp of foam and no lacing.   The Dissident is the biggest sour I have tried, weighing in at 10.5% abv.  You could detect the alcohol throughout, but it never dominated.  It is a bigger beer than it drinks, which is important to know if you ever have it on draft.

You immediately taste The Dissident's sour yeast, which flows directly into a sweetness from the cherries, and finally to a subtle hop bitterness for balance.  The Dissident is a mild sour.  I did not detect a specific cherry flavor, but you can't help but notice the sugars from the fruit.  For such a big beer, the mouthful was markedly thin.   The mild finish was marked by alcohol and yeast.  I am always amazed when a brewer can mask such high alcohol in a beer.  That's a true testament to Deschutes' skill.

I thought The Dissident a very good beer, but I would not call it great.  Deschutes only brews it once a year, which should keep its cult following high.  I was expecting a more sour, tart beer.   I need to try more beers in this style.  I have had and really liked Ommegang's Zuur, and want to get The Lost Abbey's Red Poppy.   I will be searching out The Dissident this fall.

(The Dissident's label has a restrained coolness to it, but I don't get the meaning of the black crows.)

Duvel Green

I have blogged before about well known beers I have not tried.  I am not proud of the gaps in my beer knowledge, but not troubled enough to attempt to try a new beer every night.  Beer is a journey, not a sprint and the quest is half the fun.  Tonight I had a chance to shrink my beer experience gap.  Ocean Beach Pizza Port sponsored a Duvel Keep the Glass Night, and I thought it was a good excuse to try the renowned Duvel Golden Ale.  Well, I mis-read the announcement, and it was a Duvel Green event, not the famous Duvel Golden Ale.

Well, I'd never tried Duvel Green either, so it was a good excuse to try an new beer and pick-up a cool Belgian beer glass in the process.  I was struck by Green's decidedly macro taste.  The initial Belgian yeast was light, just like the mouthful.  Green is the mildest golden ale I have tasted (I'd almost question the categorization of Green as a golden ale).  I noted a bit of anise, and it had a slight skunkiness to it, like a Heineken.  The finish, which was longer than I would have expected for such a slight beer, was marked by a hint of metallic flavor.  Green is an approachable, drinkable beer, fitting with its marco profile, and I am glad I tried this beer.

(The picture I took was too blurry, so I borrowed the picture above from  BeerMenus.com).

Regents Pizza

I love finding obscure places that serve great beer.  I found Regents Pizza while waiting at a doctor's visit.  Regents is tucked in a ground floor suite, next to other eateries and shops, in a medical office building.  It is not far from UCSD, but squarely in the University Town Center section of La Jolla (i.e. east of 1-5).  This small pizzeria had three taps and an extensive selection of bottled craft beer.  The taps were Ballast Point's underrated Big Eye IPA, Alesmith's Lil' Devil and Telegraph Brewing's California Ale. You can't get much better than that with only three taps.  The taps are apparently rotated on a regular basis.  Some of the bottled beers included beers from Alesmith, Stone, Karl Strauss, Ballast Point, Alpine, Lost Abbey / Port, Russian River and Rouge.  The pizza is good, too.  Regent's serves up New York and Chicago style pizzas and offers whole pizza and pizza by the slice.  The only bad part finding Regents was that I found it in the middle of the afternoon on a work day, so no beer for me. 

Fantome's Saison D'Erezee Printemps - Inverse Beer

I bought Printemps, my first Fantome, last summer unsure whether it was the flagship Fantome Saison - it wasn't.  I got around to drinking it early last month.  It poured a beautiful, cloudy orange with a just a wisp of foam.  The first few sips, however, were tough, not matching the beer's external beauty.  It had an earthy funkiness to it, like all good saisions, but it also had a strong spice I could not place.  But as Printemps warmed, it mellowed out and I really started to enjoy it, and with each taste it became better.  When I finished the bottle, I was disappointed and wanted more.  Typically, with flavorful beers like Printemps, the first half of the bottle is better than the second, with the second half sometimes bringing on palate fatigue.  Not so with Printemps, as I worked my way through the bottle, it blossomed and became more approachable, the opposite of many beers.  Primtemps is not a starter saison, but I highly recommend this beer.  I have not seen it at Olive Market for several months, but it is good enough to keep a lookout for it.

Exponential Hoppiness

Alpine Brewing Company is releasing its triple IPA, Exponential Hoppiness, tomorrow.  Here is the announcement from an Alpine email:

On Friday, February 4th, at the crack of noon, as our doors open, we will be offering one of the most delectable, superbly delicious, best batch ever, mathematically complex beers ever produced on the face of this earth “Exponential Hoppiness.” (EH) We did an exponential move on some late addition and dry-hopping tricks that elevated the aroma and hoppiness to their proper levels. Yes, it’s that good because we care, damit.

The ways to purchase EH are thus:

22 oz bottles available at the BREWERY – $8.99 -  Max 6 bottles/per person/day (unless abused)

22 oz bottles available at the PUB – Max 3 bottles/person/day. (don’t be  that guy)

Growler fills at the brewery only, no growler fills at the pub. We don’t fill growlers at the pub, just the brewery.

Maximum growler fills: 6 growlers per person/day of EH.

The first time I see growlers of our beer on a “public auction site” we will no longer sell growlers of EH. Ever. Protect your privilege.

Exponential Hoppiness was, or is, called the most dangerous beer in the world. That is because its alcohol is around 11%, and it is so dang drinkable that if you're not careful, it'll knock you flat.  Pliny the Younger may get all the triple IPA hype, but to me, Exponential Hoppiness is a better beer.  It is smoother and not as boozy, hence the "dangerous" label.  I have heard that bombers of Exponential Hoppiness will be available at some of the stores that sell Alpine beers.  I may post which ones after I get my bombers.

Don Younger - Publican

Don Younger, the pioneering craft beer publican past away last night.  He owned the iconic Horse Brass Pub in Portland.  You'll probably recognize his picture below.  He was usually photographed with a cigarette in one hand and a pint in the other.  There are some good blog posts below discussing Don.  I borrowed the picture from Beervana.

Beervana

Pete Brown

Brookston Beer Bulletin