Jubel 2010 Once a Decade Ale

This waxed beauty from Bend, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery has been sitting in my fridge since, well, 2010. It’s about a $13 bottle of beer so I suppose I kept putting it off for a special occasion. Tonight I felt like drinking it, and that was special occasion enough.

The beer poured like a thick, dark cola, forming a tan head about two fingers high. The nose was impressive, smelling strongly of caramel and coffee.

The mouthfeel was medium thick and creamy, with medium to low carbonation. The taste was very good, with some citrus, malt and coffee. A nice presence of hops and a pleasant aftertaste. Ten percent alcohol with 55 IBUs.

It’s a pretty heavy beer, so in terms of drinkability, you probably wouldn’t have more than one of these 22-ouncers in a single setting, but you’ll certainly enjoy that one. The 2010 scored a 92 on The Morris Scale.

Last year it was nearly perfect.  The festival is held at Union Station in Los Angeles, and therefore takes driving out of the equation.  Jump on a train to Los Angeles, take a few steps to the site of the festival (the courtyard of Union Station), sample craft beers to your heart’s content, and then get back on the train for home.  Last year the organization was good, and there was an outstanding turnout of vendors.

This year the event started on a bad note, although it had nothing to do with the event.  Metrolink decided it would be a good weekend to shut down all the trains.  I seldom have the opportunity to take public transportation, but I have to ask, how can public transportation ever become a viable alternative for the masses if riders can’t be certain it will be available?  Fortunately I found seats on Amtrak, so we were still able to take a train to the event.

The train was scheduled to arrive 15 minutes after the start of the event at 12:15.  I saw that as a feature, not a glitch, because that would provide sufficient time for everyone to get into the event and we would not need to wait in line.  However, when we arrived, there was still a substantial line.  No problem.  We went to a café in the train station and had a small nosh in order to kill some time.  Fifteen minutes later we returned to the line to find it running the entire length of the train station, down one side of the station, and around a corner into the parking garage.

I walked to the front of the line to see what was going on, and saw the problem.  In all, about 1500 people attended the festival.  There were a number of people assisting with the admission process, some handing out wristbands and other handing out the glasses (which were real glass this year), but there were just two women checking the tickets.  And as I watched, as each person approached with their ticket in hand (usually a self-printed ticket with a barcode that needed to be scanned), in every case I observed the two women had no idea how to deal with whatever it was they were facing.  As a result of this bottle neck, some people waited up to an hour and a half to get into the event.

The festival was supposed to go from noon to 4:00 p.m., but in the end the last of the line was not admitted until 1:30.  Two and a half hours was still plenty of time to sample all the beers, but that’s not the issue.  By then, two of the three seminars that were being held were already over.  Further, although many food trucks were promised, there were only three, and that lead to waits of another 30 minutes to get food.  So, if you went to the festival thinking you would sample beers for a little while, relax with some food and then sample some more beers, that was not really feasible.

I go into so much detail hoping that someone related to the festival will realize how badly they performed and do better next year.  It does not take an efficiency expert to understand that if you are going to be admitting 1500 people at the same time, you need a large number of people to quickly process them. I witnessed many people voicing their displeasure to the organizers, who attempted to blame it on a fire inspection.  They claimed that the fire inspector had delayed the start so that the grounds could be checked.  But that only begs the question, how did that happen?  And the delay and disorganization I witnessed had nothing to do with the Fire Marshal; there were just too few people assigned to ticket taking.

Click on this photo for a nice panoramic view of the courtyard (and look for the half a person — looks painful):

Once inside, the experience was good, aside from the lack of food trucks (and no bands!).  There was a large number of vendors, pouring some very tasty brew.  But there are many beer fests to be had, and because of the lack of organization, there is no reason to attend this one again.

For a much more favorable, behind the scenes review, check out Dale Conjurski’s review here.  He’ll put up with anything for beer.  (That’s him in the top photo, dutifully serving up some fine Steelhead beers.)

* Given the right circumstances (i.e., at hot day at the ball park and that’s all the beer hawker has to offer), I have been known to drink Coors.

Casa Magna Colorado (5 x 52)

You may be familiar with Connecticut wrappers, but less familiar with references to the Colorado wrapper. Without checking the website, I’m confident that the name of the cigar is not random, but rather is a reference to the wrapper, Colorado being the term used to describe a cigar with a reddish brown shading of the tobacco leaf.

I like this stick! Construction, cut and draw were perfect. There were no strong flavors upon lighting, other than a pleasant taste of tobacco, yielding copious amounts of blue smoke. Not every cigar needs to be a cacophony of tastes.

OK, I’ll check the site now to see the composition of the cigars. Shoot, no site, but the fine, fine people at Cigars Direct describe it as follows:

“The Casa Magna represents the ultimate collaboration between two cigar legends, Manuel Quesada of the Fonseca enterprise and Nestor Plasencia. Nestor’s farms produced the Nicaraguan puro leaves used in the construction of this very new cigar introduced to the world in 2008. The Nicaraguan filler is embraced by a very special Cuban-seeded Colorado Ligero wrapper also grown in Nicaragua.”

I should have guessed this was a Nicaraguan puro; one of my consistent favorites.

At the half-way point, still no distinctive notes beyond a little spice, but I am really enjoying this cigar with the stout. The stout was a good choice (dumb luck), because this is a full-bodied cigar, and needs a strong beer to keep up with it. A lager would have been lost.

When I reached the final third of the cigar, it took on a new, still indescribable but very good taste. If you’ve never been sure about the sweet spot of a cigar that so many people talk about, this cigar will ably demonstrate the phenomenon.

A great cigar, and I will be adding a few of these to the humidor. I give it a 96 on The Morris Scale, and my accolades are echoed by Cigar Aficionado, which rated it the best cigar of 2008. By the way, lest you think I am shilling for those truly magnanimous people at Cigars Direct, even though they provided this cigar, I don’t see it for sale on their site. It can be hard to find due to the recognition by Cigar Aficionado (and now Beer, Bikes and Butts). On other sites, the going price seems to be around $6. An amazing value for such a good cigar.

[UPDATE - May 13, 2011]  A search for “Colorado” on the Cigars Direct website yielded no results, and that’s why I thought they were out.  But I dug a little deeper and found them, but missing the Colorado moniker.  This is a real find, because by failing to properly identify them they have maintained a supply, unlike other sites I checked.  I immediately ordered a 5-pack.

Voo Doo American Stout

The beer pours almost black, with only a slight tan head. With my first sip, I was prepared not to like this beer because the aftertaste was not pleasant. But my palate must have adjusted, because thereafter it was smooth sailing. A very nice caramel taste with no undue bitterness. Very creamy mouthfeel. It’s a thick, heavy beer, but not so much as to destroy the drinkability. This would be a very good change up among a few beers.

I give this beer, crafted by Left Coast Brewing Company in San Clemente, California, a 91 on The Morris Scale.

A very good pairing indeed.

Mr. Beer West Coast Pale Ale

I’ve only attempted making a home brew once, many years ago, and it was terrible.  But I recently came across the Mr. Beer kit which appeared to make the process pretty painless.  You just mix the ingredients in the plastic barrel, give it a week or so, then put the brew in plastic bottles with screw on caps for the in-bottle fermenting.  The company offers many different types of beer, but the kit comes with West Coast Pale Ale.

The fledgling brew sits in the barrel for a week, and according to the instructions is ready for bottling once it tastes like flat beer.  I transferred it to the bottles, added some sugar as required, and opened a bottle a week later to see how it was coming.  It still tasted like flat beer.  I waited an additional week and the result was the same.  But here is where I should have been taking advantage of the plastic bottles.  When the plastic bottle becomes rock hard, it means the beer has become carbonated.  I could tell from squeezing the bottles that the beer was ready to go tonight, three weeks after the original bottling and four weeks after I first started the process.

This is some tasty brew!  As you can see from the photo, the carbonation finally arrived, yielding a nice foamy head.  The beer is akin to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but better.  Think of homemade bread versus store-bought bread.  Both may contain the same basic ingredients, but homemade just tastes better.  The beer was nice and hoppy with a very creamy mouthfeel and nice aftertaste. 

The kit comes with eight, 1-liter bottles, and a single batch fills them all.  I went through three until I figured out the carbonation situation.  Today’s beer was still a little less carbonated than I would have preferred – like an open beer you’ve left unattended too long – but I think with another week in the bottles it will be perfect.  But even as is, I give this home brew an 86 on The Morris Scale.

[Update]  I was right.  I let the beer sit for another week and the carbonation was perfect.  I can now give it a score of 92.  I shared some with friends and they were blown away that this was a home brew.  Good stuff.

Perdomo Reserve Maduro Robusto

Perdomo Reserve 10 Year Anniversary cigars were created to celebrate the next generation of the cigar company’s original La Tradicion Perdomo Reserve line, according to their site. The cigars are made with Cuban-seed Nicaraguan Maduro wrappers.

I was not impressed with the construction.  The draw was too loose, and the smoke was hot as a result.  The burn was ragged, but did even up toward the end.  The cigar was a strong maduro, but it was harsh without any flavorful reward.  Not a terrible smoke, and another batch might not suffer from the same rolling problem, but as presented I can only give it an 82.

Our roving Cigar Group met at TAPS Fish House and Brewery in Brea this week to take advantage of their cigar-friendly patio while watching the Lakers tank another game.  (Note to TAPS:  Put a second screen out on the patio.)  I’ve been to TAPS on a couple of occasions, but had not yet sampled their beers.  Here are some quick impressions from the sampler I ordered.

Creme Ale – Good, but I won’t be ordering a pint any time soon.

Oscura – Best beer of the bunch.  Supposedly uses a recipe by Austrian brewers who immigrated to Mexico during the 19th century, giving it a Mexican flare.  It is a dark brown lager, with a very nice toasty flavor.

Biere de Garde – Meaning, “beer to keep or to store,” or so they say.  By that, maybe they mean you’ll keep it in the fridge because you won’t want to drink it.  Not a good beer for my tastes.

Belgian White – A tasty unfiltered wheat beer, with strong citrus and a slight banana taste.  Quite good.

Hefeweizen – A good Hefeweizen, but not as good as what Oggi’s offers, and not in the league of In Heat Wheat from Flying Dog Brewery, one of my favorites.

Schwarzbier – A German-style dark lager.  Better than the Dale Bros. California Black Beer I recently reviewed, but still too thin and watery for me.  Someone must like it though, because TAPS says it received an award this year.

Irish Red – My second favorite of the bunch, but again not as good as the red offered by Oggi’s.

California Gold XPA – Not crazy with hops like an IPA, but if you are a hop head you should still be pleased.  I’m not, and I wasn’t.

Another great beer festival at Irvine Lake.  The second annual (hopefully) Orange County Beer Festival was held on May 15 instead of August like the previous year, and that resulted in much cooler weather.

I went with a friend and two designated drivers (always good to have a backup at an event like this in case one succumbs), and we arrived almost an hour early.  Very good plan, since we avoided the traffic and the lines, and had a chance to eat before they opened the booths.  In the pictures below you’ll see the place was really packed, but there was never a significant wait of more than, say, thirty seconds at any of the booths.  On the food front, the organizers did a much better job this year, offering three food vendors serving really outstanding choices.

In a perfect world I would probably take some notes on the beers as I sample them, but there is just too many booths to hit in the three hours.  I settled for picking up literature on the standouts so I could remember them later.  Some of my favorites were from the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery (Long Beach), the Cismontane Brewing Company (Rancho Santa Margarita), Bierbitzch’s always refreshing Golden Pilsner (they always have great merchandise too), Tibet Brewing and their Lhasa Beer, and my favorite of them all, the new Duvel Green.

One major criticism of the beer fest is the traffic leaving the event.  We sat in the traffic leaving the parking lot for 45 minutes and never moved.  I finally had to see what could possibly be going on, and walked to the exit.  The traffic on the road was so crowded, that none of the cars could get an opening to pull out.  I helped stop traffic on the main road to get the traffic flowing out of the parking lot, and then other “civilians” from the festival joined in and we put together an impromptu traffic system, blocking traffic for a minute at a time to let the cars exit.  Had we not done this, everyone would still be sitting in the parking lot.  A special commendation goes to a woman from Bierbitzch (or who may simply have been wearing a Bierbitzch t-shirt) for stepping up and getting really aggressive with the slow-moving drivers.

The point of the story is, the organizers must hire traffic cops for the event.  And get more porta-potties.  Lots of people drinking lots of  beer.  Do the math, then multiply by ten.

I took a complete lap of the festival with my flip camera running. It’s noisy and jerky, but you’ll certainly get a sense of the party atmosphere.

Last year’s Beerfest was held on a very hot August 30, so I’m hoping the new date of May 15, 2010 (that’s a Saturday) will make the experience a little cooler.  There will likely be around 50 breweries represented, all giving unlimited pours (four ounces at a time), so be sure to arrange for transportation so you don’t have to skip any of the samples.  Last year they offered a $15 designated driver ticket price.

Admission is $40, and you can buy tickets here.  If you wait until a little closer to the event date, you can probably pick up some discount tickets for $25.  Just don’t wait too long, because it will probably sell out.

Wheat beer is a beer that is brewed with a significant proportion of wheat. Wheat beers often also contain a significant proportion of malted barley. Wheat beers are usually top-fermented (in Germany they have to be by law).  The flavor of wheat beers varies considerably, depending upon the specific style.

“Hefe” is the German word for yeast, and “weizen” means wheat.  Put them together and you get the very imperfect translation, yeast-wheat, but the real translation refers to beer with the yeast still present – wheat beer in its traditional, unfiltered form. If the wheat beer is filtered, it then becomes “kristallweizen” (crystal wheat), or “kristall weiss” (crystal white beer).  Filtering removes the yeast from suspension, as well as the wheat proteins that give hefeweizen its cloudy appearance.  Alternate terms for hefeweizen include: hefeweissbier, weissbier, hefeweisse, dunkelweizen, weizenbock, or weizenstarkbier. A weizenbock is not necessarily considered a hefeweizen unless it is left unfiltered.

The hefeweizen style is particularly noted for its low hop bitterness (about 15 IBUs) and relatively high carbonation (approaching four volumes), considered important to balance the beer’s relatively malty sweetness.  A seasoned beer drinker can appreciate the complexity and varied taste of a good wheat beer, and at the same time it is a great way to win over those who eschew beer for its bitterness.  The style of the ale yeast used in wheat beer throws off flavors not often found in other beers, and is responsible for the banana and vanilla tastes often found in these beers.

Wheat beer (“weissbier”) is available in a number of other stronger forms including dunkelweizen (dark wheat) and weizenstarkbier (strong wheat beer); the latter is often referred to as weizenbock.  The dark wheat varieties typically have a much higher alcohol content than their lighter cousins. 

I really like the hefeweizen beers offered at a couple of my favorite haunts, but I don’t have a favorite bottled variety.  Thus came the idea for a hefeweizen shoot-out.  I grabbed a selection of eight hefeweizens from my local Total Wine & More, and recruited my wife and two friends to help with the tasting.

I poured all the beer into 32 glasses (4 tasters x 8 beers), so we could taste them all at once and move back and forth between them to pick our favorites.  I told everyone to keep their comments to themselves initially, so no one would be influenced by the opinions of others.  Since hefeweizens are normally served with a lemon slice, we tried each beer first without lemon, then with a slight squeeze of lemon.  Ultimately, that did not make any difference in the rankings.

I had a slight concern going into this shoot-out that there might not be enough distinction between the beers to find a clear winner; that our conclusions would be all over the board.  To my surprise, the four of us reached very similar conclusions on both ends of the spectrum, with just some slight variations in between.  Here are our conclusions, from best to worst.

1.  In Heat Wheat, Flying Dog Brewery – Frederick, MD

This was my number two selection, but my three compatriots all rated it number one. Despite the silly label and name, this beer is a champion hefeweizen.  Very creamy mouthfeel and zero bitterness.  If you like hefeweizen, get your hands on this beer.

2.  Octoberfest Weizen – Weissbrau, Germany

This beer has what I found to be a very pleasant bitter follow through, and that caused some dissension in the ranks.  It was my number one selection specifically because of the slight bitterness I expect in a German beer, but that same bitterness relegated it to number two, three and seven among the others.  Admittedly, the In Heat Wheat and the Octoberfest Weizen were both so good that the distinction is minor, but I thought the Octoberfest had a little more character.  Another great selection, but as you can see from the results, the In Heat Wheat is far more likely to be a crowd pleaser.

3.  Santa Cruz Ale Works – Santa Cruz, CA

This was the first of the beers we tasted, and it was so good that I initially felt it would be the winner before even tasting the rest.  The others had similar thoughts, and all four of us gave this beer the third place prize.  Don’t be put off by the third place finish; this was also a very good beer.  Indeed, I’ll probably pick up another one of these when I go to stock up on the In Heat Wheat.  Continued research is important.

4.  Einhorn Beer Co. – El Monte, CA

The Einhorn was the last of the hefeweizens that I found acceptable out of this group of eight.  John and I rated it as number four, with Suzanne rating it fifth and JoAnn rating it sixth.  We all commented on an unidentifiable aftertaste, and the beer was just too sweet for my taste, with a taste of honey.  Still, it was enjoyable enough, but not something I would buy again.

5.  Sierra Nevada Kellerweis – Chico, CA

This beer brought another unanimous verdict, with all ranking it number five out of eight.  No one genuinely hated it, and no one could point to any particular problem, but it just wasn’t in the same league as numbers one through three.  There was just no there there.

6.  Widmer – Portland, OR

Great minds also thought alike on the Widmer, with all four of us ranking it in 6th place.  Widmer is the hefeweizen that you are most likely to find at a bar; sort of the Budweiser of hefeweizens.  I intentionally added it to the mix as a kind of control sample.  I have rated Widmer here before, and was not very impressed.  I was hoping that there would be better wheat beers available, and this test certainly proved that there are.

7.  The Firehouse Brewing Co. – San Diego, CA

JoAnn really did not like the Octoberfest Weizen because of the bitterness, and moved it all the way down here to number seven.  However, the rest of us reserved this spot for the hefeweizen produced by The Firehouse Brewing Co.  I was sad to see this, because I met people from the company at the recent Septemberfest at Paramount Studios.  They were a good bunch of people, but fair is fair and this was a really bad beer.  If it’s any solace, I liked whatever it was I sampled at Septemberfest, but with the hefeweizen they really missed the mark.  Watery and tasteless.

8.  Sudwerk – Davis, CA

As bad as the prior beer was, it was nothing compared to Sudwerk.  To say this beer tastes like bath water would be an insult to bath water.  But that is an apt comparison because it truly tasted soapy.  John coined the phrase, “Sudz is a Dudz.”  Not only should you not buy this beer, but you should try to conceal it as you pass it in the store to keep others from buying it.  Are you getting my gist?

Weeks ago I signed up to go to the OC Beer Fest at Irvine Lake, to be held on Sunday, August 30, 2009.  I think it was a first time thing, because I didn’t see anything about past events on line.  But it involved beer, so I was in.  Admission was $40 for all the plebs, but being an influential member of the beer press I got me and my St. Pauli Girl both in for $25 per (using a coupon I found on line).

The experience started on a down note.  All the aforesaid plebs were waiting in the will call lines, but I expected to be waived in — “Right this way Mr. Morris, your VIP table is waiting.” (Plus, I had actual tickets.)  So I walked past the lines, waived my tickets, and was told by a large security person that I had to get in the line, adding the unnecessary remark, “Why do you think EVERYONE ELSE is standing in line?”  To which I responded, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe they’re all standing in those lines with the big WILL CALL signs to pick up their tickets; I’m guessing you don’t get a lot of calls from NASA seeking a consultation?” thereby almost being ejected before I was ever in.  (And I’ll bet my St. Pauli Girl would have gone in anyway – that’s just the way she is.)

So anyway, they hand us two small plastic beer mugs, probably five ounce size, and we head into the festivities.  OMG, it was like Christmas in August for a beer drinker.  There were probably more than 50 breweries represented there, all of them pouring multiple beer types as fast as you could drink them.  I’ve been to food tastings like this, but in those cases there is a line at every station, and the sample they provide is a mere morsel.  At the OC Beer Fest, they filled the mug.  Indeed, many people were asking for half portions just to pace themselves.  And no real lines to speak of.  At most I would wait perhaps two minutes to get a sample at any given station.  It was a particularly hot day for Southern California, so the only real lines were at the stations that were in the shade.

So, where’s the tease you ask?  I was in the middle of a jury trial, and even though it was a Sunday I had to get back to the office to prepare for the next day’s witnesses.  I had to limit myself to little more than an hour and just a few half samples.  Damn.  Driving away in true, clear-headed depression, having sampled less than one-half of one percent of the available beers, I check my voice mail and, just to twist the knife, a friend had left a message saying he and others had arranged for transportation so we could drink with impunity.  Double damn.

Part of me hates to invite participation at the next event because I don’t want to lengthen the lines, but if you promise to keep it to yourself I’ll tell you that if you live within reasonable distance of Irvine (technically Silverado) California (say, anywhere west of Mississippi), you should go to OC Beer Fest 2010.

Some additional coverage:

OC Beerfest: Sweaty, Beery Fun

OC Weekly Slideshow