Lost Rhino's Alphabrett

When it comes to beer, few would approach a beer that is described with terms such as "green apple," "sour cherry" or even, in a rare case, "horse blanket." I am one of those few.  The reason is that I recognize those descriptors.  They are words being used to describe a beer brewed with Brettanomyces or "Brett."  It is a wild yeast (or actually, a few different strains of wild yeast) that produces rather unique flavors that require an open mind and a palette that can embrace some really acidic and sour flavors. 

The use of Brett has been in vogue for quite a while.  Over the past few years, I have reviewed several beers brewed with the wild yeast.   Of those beers, the one that I like the most is the Orval, the Trappist beer brewed in Belgium.  The tart tones of the beer set it apart from its Trappist brethren.  A close second would be the Le Fleur, Misseur from New Belgium.  It is hard to believe that I reviewed those beers back in 2011, nearly six years ago.

A few months ago, my beautiful Angel took me on a tour through Virginia craft beer.  The last stop on the tour was Lost Rhino Brewing.   After trying a couple of the beers, I bought two beers from the brewer's Genius Loci series.  This series of beers display the brewer's creativity and experimentation.  The results are beers that differ greatly from the standards that grace the taps at the tasting room or local restaurants.

One beer in the series is the Alphabrett, a brown ale brewed with Brett and aged for two years in barrels.  The beer is brewed with pilsner, crystal and chocolate malts, Saaz hops and a combination of St. Bernardus yeast, along with Vlo yeast in the barrel.  

The Alphabrett pours an earth brown color, with some rust hues, which one would expect with a barrel-aged brown ale brewed with Brett. The brewers describe the beer as "prevalent green apple notes that go hand in hand with a pleasant sourness."  I think that description is largely accurate.  The aroma was difficult to ascertain, but I could get some faint hints of green apple and other Brett aspects.   That faint aroma is belied by a very strong flavor.  Prevalent means widespread, and there is a lot of green apple in the taste.  The sourness hits the tongue with the first sip, and never lets up.  With each additional taste, the sourness transforms from green apple to sour apple candy, with some pepper notes along the edges.

In the end, this is a very good beer.  I wish I had bought a second bottle of it.  (I actually bought two bottles, but the second one is a different Genuis Loci beer - that will be a review for a different time.)  This beer is not for the faint of heart or taste, but, if you like something different and something sour, the Alphabrett is worth a try.

ENJOY!

TBA

The acronym "TBA" can stand for a lot of things ... like "To Be Announced" or "Tertiary Butyl Alcohol."    In the case of the craft beer movement, "TBA" stands for "Texas Brown Ale."  This "style" of beer has a rather interesting lore.  The story oddly enough begins in California.  As the story goes, Californian home brewers got bored with the English Brown Ale.  They decided that they would give their own spin to the weary brown ale.  The brewers increased the use of crystal and chocolate malts, and, as Californian brewers often do, they added a lot of hops.  The result was a hoppy brown ale that clearly set itself from the malt-driven versions of the English Brown Ale.

The owner of the Houston, Texas-based Defalco Home Wine and Beer Supplies, Scott Birdwell, visited California and tried the Californian version of the brown ale.  Given the increased use of hops and the darker color, the beer could not qualify as an English Brown Ale at beer competitions.  Birdwell decided that a new category should be created and called "California Dark."  The American Homebrewers Association accepted the new category, but called it the "Texas Brown Ale."  Eventually, the style became known as the American Brown Ale. 

This particular Texas Brown Ale is the result of a collaboration between three talented brewers: the head brewers from Stone Brewing Company, Bear Republic Brewery and Fat Head's Brewery & Saloon.  This TBA is no ordinary brown ale; instead, it was inspired by the time during which it was brewed ... right before Christmas.  As the label states, "[n]othing says Christmas like hanging out with good friends and brewing something special.  Thanks to Matt Cole from Fat Head's and Richard (Ricardo) Norgrove from Bear Republic for braving the pre-holiday travel to come to Stone the week before the Christmas Holiday and brew this 'sort of' old-school American (or Texas) brown ale."   

The "sort-of" nature of this Texas Brown Ale is also explained by the label.  "The recipe we came up with a host of specialty malts, molasses, brown sugar, Columbus, Bravo, Brewers' Gold and for the first time ever at Stone, Cascade hops." The label concludes, "[w]e're hoping our brew brings back fond memories of some of the earliest classic craft beers.  Enjoy your trip down memory lane." 

For me, it was Christmas in summer.  I poured the beer into a Fat Head's mug.  While the beer poured a brown sugar color, I was surprised by the thick foam from the carbonation.  As one would expect from a beer produced by Stone, Fat Heads and Bear Republic, this beer is very bold.  The use of four different hops allows the piney and citrusy flavors to assert themselves strongly in both the aroma and the flavor.  What is more remarkable about the beer is not the hops, but the sweetness from the malts, molasses and brown sugar round out the taste of this beer in a great way. 

The confluence of hops, malt and sweetness provide a little more challenge when it comes to pairing this beer.  One suggestion is barbecue, with the sweetness being a good complement to the spice or smoke in the rubs.  Another suggestion is earthy or nutty cheeses.  Both could probably work, although I have to admit that I just enjoyed the beer by itself.

Obviously, the beer was (and may still be available) in California, where Stone and Bear Republic are located, or in Ohio, where Fat Head's is located.  This bottle was a gift, so I do not know how much it cost.  Still, if you see a bottle, it is worth it.

ENJOY!

For more about the history of the Texas Brown Ale, check out Bay Area Craft Beer and Texas Beer Freedom.

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Dogfish Head and its founder, Sam Caligione, have created a wide array of different beers, such as the Theobroma, which is based on an ancient Aztec recipe and the Sah'tea, which is a take on the Finnish beer. My favorite beer produced by Dogfish Head is the Palo Santo Marron.  Last year, Clare and I took her parents to Dogfish Head's restaurant in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware, where it all started.  When we left, we bought a couple of four packs home to enjoy at our leisure.

According to Dogfish Head, the Palo Santo Marron is an "unfiltered, unfettered and unprecedented" brown ale that is is aged in handmade barrels made from Palo Santo wood brought from Paraguay to the United States.  Palo Santo or "Holy Stick" is actually bulnesia sarmientoi, a heartwood that grows in the Gran Chaco, a region that straddles Paraguay and Argentina.  The wood is used for making posts and engravings, as well as charcoal.  Dogfish Head used the wood to build large wooden tanks holding 10,000 gallons each, making them the largest wooden tanks in use in the United States since Prohibition.

The Palo Santo Marron pours as dark as a brown ale can be poured before turning black.  The nose of the beer is intertwined with alcohol and caramel, with roasted notes most likely from roasted malts.  The brewer describes the taste of the beer as having caramel and vanilla notes, along with the Paraguayan Palo Santo wood.  The caramel is definitely there, as well as coffee.  The vanilla is also present, although it is subdued somewhat by the alcohol.  The beer has an ABV of 12%, which next to the Samichlaus, is the second highest ABV of a beer that I have reviewed on my blog.

The brewer suggests steak, chorizo and Cajun food as the pairing for this beer.  These suggestions are understandable, because strong beers should be paired with foods that have strong or rich flavors.  I paired the Palo Santo Marron with the Broiled Tilapia with Crawfish, primarily because I thought that the roasted malt flavors of the beer would be a good complement to the spiciness of the crushed red pepper and the smokiness of the smoked paprika, both of which were used to create the sauce for the crawfish.

I love this beer, although it is one that I enjoy only on a rare occasion.  While the Palo Santo Marron is available year round, but it is pricey at about $17.00 or $18.00 for a four pack. The beer can be found at Rodmans and other stores that sell Dogfish Head.  If you would like to enjoy just a glass of the Palo Santo Marron, it is usually available on tap at the Dogfish Head Alehouse restaurants.

ENJOY!