Rosso e Marrone Release

Finally winding down from a long, but fun 24 hours. The release of Rosso e Marrone batch 3 was yet another great time at the Captain Lawrence Brewery. Jen and I actually arrived in Pleasantville, NY around 8 pm last night, so we could check out the town a bit. Turns out that Pleasantville has an excellent pastry bakery and some other fun attractions. After walking around for a bit we decided to check out Jane Eyre at the Jacob Burns Film Center. The movie theater was fairly small, but the chairs were probably the most comfortable I've ever sat in at a theater; and Jane Eyre wasn't half bad either. The story stayed fairly true to the book from what I've heard and the cinematography was well done. Worth checking out if you're a fan of Charlotte Brontë.

Jean Jacques Bakery

After the film ended Jen and I made our way back to the Captain Lawrence Brewery and picked up our tickets from the ticket dispenser outside (about 1 am if I recall correctly). With tickets in hand we jumped back into the car and crashed until about 5:30 am. Feeling somewhat refreshed with a few hours of sleep, we got up and drove to the Pleasantville Diner. I think this has been our goto place for breakfast the last couple of times we've been in Pleasantville. Pretty good food and the coffee is always strong.

Early morning @ Captain Lawrence

With food in our bellies, we headed back to the Captain Lawrence Brewery to meet up with some friends, meet some new beer enthusiasts, and of course, drink some quality brews. Here's a run down on a few of the beers Jen and I got to sample:

Firestone Walker - Abacus
Cantillon - '96 Gueuze
Hill Farmstead - Art
Captain Lawrence - Barrel Select
Kuhnhenn - Bourbon Barrel Fourth Dementia
Victory - Dark Intrigue
Minneapolis Town Hall - Port Frost
Hill Farmstead - Bourbon Barrel Earl
Goose Island - Rare Bourbon County Stout
Cantillon - '00 Vigneronne
The Bruery - Melange no. 1
Dogfish Head - Black & Red
and one sip of Chocolate Rain (Dave you should hold on to this!)

Free food!

In addition to these brews, Jen and I also got in on a Fifty Fifty Eclipse vertical tasting (huge thanks to Thorpe for sharing!), which included the following barrel variations from left to right: '08 Pappy Van Winkle, '09 Elijah Craig, '09 Heaven Hill, '10 Heaven Hill, '10 Four Roses, '10 Evan Williams and '10 Christian Brothers Brandy.

Eclipse vertical

All of the Fifty Fifty variations were excellent, but the Pappy Van Winkle vintage stole the show. One of the best, if not best, bourbon barrel imperial stouts I've ever had. After the Pappy I would rank the Elijah Craig as the clear second best variation and then the rest are a toss up, minus the '10 Heaven Hill, which was a bit rough and unbalanced.

Outside of the Eclipse vertical I was probably the most impressed with the Rare Bourbon County Stout and the '00 vintage of Cantillon's Vigneronne. I'd never gotten around to picking up a bottle of the Rare Bourbon County, because I figured it wasn't worth the $40 price tag, but damn it was tasty, and in my opinion, better than any of the other Bourbon County variations, including the regular Bourbon County. I guess Pappy Van Winkle barrels hold a lot of potential for barrel aging stouts, since both the Rare Bourbon County and PVW Eclipse used 23 year old Pappy barrels for aging.

'00 Vigneronne

As for non-stout beers, the '00 vintage Vigneronne that Chris (BearsOnAcid) shared had aged wonderfully. I actually thought it was much more enjoyable than the '96 Gueuze. The nose on the Vignerrone was filled with the classic Cantillon sour funkiness, except much more robust and developed than any fresh bottle you can buy off the shelf (note to self: cellar some Vigneronne). The taste was great as well. Quite complex, yet still well rounded and not going down hill at all. A really nice beer overall.

Rosso e Marrone b3

Oh yeah, and the Rosso e Marrone was plentiful. Jen and I each walked away with our 6 bottle limits and should be opening one soon side by side with a year old batch 2. From the small sample of Rosso I had today, it seems like this years batch is just as tasty and slightly more sour. Can't wait for the Cuvee de Castleton release later this year. Captain Lawrence knows how to work their bugs and barrels.

Poutine

I had never eaten cheese curds. But, after inexplicably becoming surrounded by people from the Midwest where these succulent morsels of disguised fat are battered and deep-fried, I had to try them. We bought a plastic package of cheddar curds from the bagged cheese section of the COOP six months ago. I ate two or three, discarding the rest. Seriously, cheese curds? You were supposed to be delicious, not disappointing!

Maybe, I though back then, the only good way to eat them is at a state fair in a paper holder. I borrowed a deep fryer from a friend and was ready to test this hypothesis. Then, I discovered poutine.

as drawn by me in MS Paint.

I should qualify this picture by saying that John was wonderful and bought me a tablet for my birthday which was not used in the making of Anatomy of Poutine. I am, however, very very grateful.

Technically poutine is Canadian. The dish traditionally consists of fresh cheese curds on top of french fries, all doused in a healthy helping of (preferably thick and canned) beef gravy. I'm pretty sure I discovered this plate of disgusting awesomeness on This Is Why You're Fat, which doesn't appear to exist anymore, may it rest in artery-clogging peace. I kept my peepers peeled in our restaurant endeavors in case we should run into this snack south of the border, as it were. On our last trip to Montpelier for beer, we struck gold.

We had just returned from the farmers' market and Sean Lawson. After sampling some of his excellent beer and picking up some bottles, we were ready for an early lunch. Since Three Penny Taproom didn't open until one that day, we courted Rhapsody Cafe (which makes the best tempeh I have ever purchased in the states) and a couple of pizza joints before settling in at our old Burlington favorite, The Skinny Pancake. Before I could look at the regular menu, I spotted something on the specials list that I couldn't pass up:

Breakfast poutine.

Breakfast Poutine

Basically the same as regular poutine, but with sausage gravy and a poached egg on top. I was so excited at having found a poutine that I didn't notice the regular poutine on the menu until long after the food had arrived.

Run, yolk, run.

We also ordered the apples and brie crêpe (John and I are both on something of a soft cheese kick) and a Love Maker which, unfortunately, arrived without nutella. Probably for the best.

Brie and apples with greens.

Slightly less love making in this crêpe.

We didn't finish all of it, but the rat enjoyed some leftovers.

City by the bay part II

We left off at the end of my first night in SF. After the unreasonably late excursions, pre-sickness and touch of alcohol it is safe to say there were many reasons I should not be feeling in top shape the following morning. A had gotten to bed a handful of hours before me and was also a little groggy, but washed up nicely and went to meet Other A at a cafe across the street where I joined them. A cruller and some soybean milk and we were on our way to a morning of talks. Even though I wasn't feeling any better than when I woke up, I managed to drag myself into a taxi with P and V and head to Chinatown for some dim sum lunch. We got there early and the restaurant, whose name escapes me, had not started cart service yet. I managed to order some of my favorites nevertheless.

Taro fritters!

Shrimp dumplings! Not my favorite, but pretty tasty.

Custard buns (favorite)! Sesame balls.

 We walked off lunch up and down Chinatown's steep streets, enjoying the scenery.

I remember those.

These melons... they is not for you...

After a quick workout and a shower back at the hotel, I was feeling a little better and spent the afternoon productively conferencing with my labmates. We all went out to a Tex-Mex chain for dinner (I won't repeat the name here out of mild disgust) and A and I turned in early to freshen up before our talks the following day.

The final day, we got up and gussied up and ran straight to the conference, arriving by eight to hear a good friend's talk. A spotted an organic coffee bar on the way and we doubled back to it during the break for much-needed breakfast. Two ham, egg and cheese bagels and some lattes later, we felt much better. I ordered an apple, orange and carrot juice that spawned raw juice cravings for weeks afterwards. I figure one can't go to California and not hit up a juice bar. For lunch we joined arms with an adjacent lab group and hopped a few blocks down to the Whole Foods. No sooner had I walked in than I noticed the massive amounts of west coast beers. A frenzy of pictures ensued.

Beers.

I don't see most of you back home...

Eeeeeheheeeee....

Then, of course, I saw the Russian Rivers and all bets were off. Three hours later I would be dragging my carry on-sized but solid frame suitcase back to this Whole Foods, purchasing at least 10 bomber-sized bottles and taping, wrapping, and packing them in the eating area among wide-eyed locals watching me throwing my overflow of underthings and conference clothing into a strategically-brought duffel bag. But before that, I ate lunch.

I have had Whole Foods sushi before in both Chicago and Boston and, may I say, it never tasted this good.

A shrimp and a salmon roe are missing... in my belly.

Eel, we shared.

Rainbowish roll, also shared. Could I have eaten it all? Probably.

Ironically I only got a few bites of each platter before I had to run back to the conference to proof my talk. Everyone else enjoyed them immensely. The subsequent talks went off without hitch and we returned to the disappointing Tex-Mex chain for dinner before taxi-ing back to the airport. Our flight didn't leave until late so we all claimed a table at Perry's and ordered drinks to bide the time. This is where I met the Bench Pinot Noir.

The perfect end to the trip.

I will have a story about the Bench Pinot Noir later as I am now in the possession of what was 4 but is now 2 bottles and these bottles are technically not available for purchase.

City by the bay... with the food and the beer

Some time before the Winterfest, I left the chilly college on the hill with our multiple feet of snow and negative degree fahrenheit temperature. The destination: San Francisco. The excuse: SPIE Photonics West Conference. I had a talk to give there along with a few other people from our institution, so we carpooled to Manchester airport with suits in tow and checked in for what was sure to be a warmer couple of days. At the airport, I discovered this:

Moooooo Bella

It claimed to be an automatic ice cream making machine. I had to try it or live forever in regret for not knowing. I bought the cup for the ice cream at the cafe adjacent to it (would have been cooler if it had supplied its own, though, and I just swiped a credit card) and selected black raspberry flavor with chocolate chips mix in. The cup fit in a small rotatable plastic holder inside, behind which a mess of whurr-ing noises started up. Eventually the cup tilted backwards and a cup-sized scoop of ice cream was extruded into it from behind. The ice cream looked churned and hand-scooped but tasted awful with an over-frozen hard gummy consistency. Someday when I have time I will invent a better automatic ice cream machine.

We arrived in SF and checked in to our hotel around dinnertime; with two full days of conference ahead we were not about to let the night go to waste. S and R split a taxi with me to the Italian area of town within walking distance of Chinatown and also many well-advertised strip clubs. We went to S's usual dining establishment when he comes home to SF, Caffe Sport. The wait, however, was 45 minutes so we wandered around Chinatown and ended up at a Thai place snacking on satay, fish cakes and iced tea before our reservation was up. I hadn't realized until that point how very much I miss good Thai iced tea and good chicken satay living in Hanover. Even the pickled cucumbers tasted magical.

Fish cake with fresh pickled cucumber

By the time we got back to Caffe Sport they had plenty of tables open. We sat down and split a bottle of the house Chianti along with plates of penne con pesto and scampi all' Antonio. The pesto was pretty good and the scampi sauce was a remarkably smooth and stable emulsion for one lacking butter or cream.

The beginning...

Penne con pesto

Scampi all' Antonio. Crazy yellow-green lights.

After dinner and about 3 glasses of wine each, we split a taxi to Toronado which is the place to buy Lost Abbey's Cable Car. At this point, it was well after normal bed time our-coast-time and the day of travel so recently in the past didn't help things. We each powered through a pint nonetheless and I got to savor some Pliny on tap while enjoying the crowded but beer geekish scenery of the bar. I really, really wanted to buy the Cable Car. Unsure of whether R or S liked sours along with travel-induced sickness setting in (not to mention the price tag), I decided against getting a bomber to drink by myself. I bought a bottle of Pliny and a La Folie to take home instead.

Oh Pliny, you were so yummy.

Wall of liters...

...and more of the wall. One of each, please, for the cellar?

Some taps, some funky artwork.

At this point, it would have been wise to go back to the hotel... which we tried to do but for the incredibly sketchy taxi driver we had randomly hailed who refused to take credit cards despite the clearly functional card reader on his dashboard and who drove us around in a circle. Earlier in the night, some colleagues texted that they were at a bar/restaurant called Absinthe and by crazy fortuitous luck we wound up adjacent to it at an intersection. R, who is a New York native, then proceeded to lay the smackdown on our cabby:

R: Our friends are at that bar over there! You can just let us out on this street please.

Cabby: But you said you wanted to go to {hotel name}... *proceeds to pass the bar and continues driving*

R: YOU WILL LET US OUT NOW AND YOU WILL SIGN THIS RECEIPT.

Our friends were still sitting when we arrived, so we ordered a sidecar and told them about the cab. J and P wanted to hit up another beer bar and we walked there with the group to sober up in the warm night air. I honestly can't remember the name of the second beer bar but it paled in comparison to Toronado. Exhausted and slightly groggy, we caught our final taxi of the night back to the hotel just before 1am.

Stay tuned for a followup entry on dim sum, sushi and beer hauls!

Hill Farmstead Winter Festival

We've been having quite the winter here in the Upper Valley this year. Snow, snow, snow and more snow. Needless to say, I haven't been venturing out of the area too much, but Jen and I did get away last Saturday to the Hill Farmstead Winter Festival in Greensboro VT. The Hill Farmstead is a quaint little brewery in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, but the brews coming out of this place are anything but. Ranked as the 34th best brewery in the world by Rate Beer and the best new brewery of 2011, the Hill Farmstead has been making quite a name for itself. In addition to the brewery's Rate Beer accolades, the Hill Farmstead currently has 8 beers in the 'Top Buzz Beers' list on Beer Advocate, which is more than any other brewery in the world. So you can see why Jen and I thought it was worth the 1.5 hour drive north to attend the festival.

We arrived at the brewery a few minutes before the fest and gladly took a stroll around the area to take in the beautiful scenic views. The brewery is quite isolated from the rest of world and every time I come I feel like I'm walking into a fairytale, where time moves slower, nothing is rushed and the beer flows freely. It's always worth the trip.

Once the doors opened, the beers started to flow as did the conversation and live jazz music. I don't recall the name of the band, but they did some great John Coltrane covers, including Giant Steps, which is one of my faves.

However, the best part of the fest was the tap list. Hands down, this is one of the best tap lists I've ever seen in one place. Check this out:

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
Mikkeller Beer Geek Bacon
Amager Rye Porter
Nogne Ø Imperial Stout
Grassroots/Mikkeller Limoncello
Cantillon Fou' Foune
Hill Farmstead Art (Barrel Aged Arthur)
Hill Farmstead Abner
Hill Farmstead Foster Black Rye
Hill Farmstead Flora
Hill Farmstead Iced Coffee Stout (15ish%)
Lawson's Finest Double Sunshine
The Alchemist Dark and Dank
Half Acre Daisy Cutter
Ballast Point Sculpin
Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial

Jen and I made our way through quite a few of the draft beers by sharing pours and I think we both agreed that the Hill Farmstead's Iced Coffee Stout, The Alchemist's Dark and Dank and Cantillon's Fou' Foune were the highlights of the day. The Iced Coffee Stout was so smooth and silky with well roasted coffee and chocolate, plus the 15% ABV was hidden so well you would have guessed it was 5% if you didn't know otherwise.

Iced Coffee Stout

Dark and Dank was a new brew from The Alchemist which turned out to be a delicious IPA brewed with dark malts and a large addition of hops. Lots of sweet caramel notes in this one. Hopefully it makes an appearance at the pub sometime in the near future. And of course Cantillon's Fou' Foune was just as tasty on tap, if not more so, than out of the bottle. The nose was filled with the classic Cantillon barnyard funk and the taste was laced with apricot and peach sourness throughout. One other interesting note was that this version on tap had a noticeable increase in grassy bitterness compared to the bottled versions I've had. I'm guessing it's due to the freshness of this keg or potentially batch variability. Either way, it did a really nice job of bringing out some of the earthier aspects of the beer, which I appreciated.

Fou' Foune

In addition to the delicious beers there was also a nice selection of food, including generously sized cheese samples from the cellars at Jasper Hill. One of the cheese samples, Winnimere, was actually washed in Phenomenology of Spirit (one of the Hill Farmstead beers) and paired excellently with a baguette and some dried figs.

To cap off the event, I splurged on a sample of 1998 Drie Fonteinen 50th Anniversary Oude Geuze. At $25 a pour, it was the most I had ever spent on a sample of beer, but was it worth it? Yes. One of the best, if not the best, gueuze I have ever had. Imagine beautiful, floral, citrus funk mixed with hay and oak while maintaining balanced acidity and sourness throughout. Perfect. One image that kept coming to my mind was liquid flower petals. Truly a work of art. Sad that there are so few of these left.

Anyways, Jen and I had a great time at the festival and I can't wait for the next Hill Farmstead event, which should be in June. It sounds like it will be an entire weekend of special beers on tap and possibly the release of Damon, the first Russian Imperial Stout from the Hill Farmstead. Also, I checked out this barrel in the back corner of the brewery before leaving. Not sure if it will ever be released, but a smokey version of Cab barreled Phenomenology with black currants sounds pretty tasty to me.

Drie Fonteinen

To kick start the new year here at Food and Fermentation I decided to pull up some recent reviews from one of my favorite breweries, Drie Fonteinen. Last month Jen and I were lucky enough to get our hands on some bottles of the recent Malvasia Rosso release from Ølbutikken (thanks to Rachel and Jeppe!); and on top of that, our local tasting buddy, Dave, brought over an '02 Red Label Oude Gueuze Vintage. December was a pretty awesome month all around for lambic and gueuze, but these two bottles were definitely the highlights.

The Malvasia Rosso, also referred to as Drie Fonteinen's Druiven Gueuze (druiven = grapes) was actually bottled in 2003, but was just recently released last fall at Ølbutikken in Copenhagen. Only a limited number of bottles (300-400) were for sale and this release also marked the first time that the beer was available for off-site consumption. Previous vintages of Malvasia Rosso have been for sale at European bars like Akkurat, but the consumer is only allowed to drink the bottle at the bar. Needless to say, I was quite excited to see a few of these bottles arrive at my doorstep.

Drie Fonteinen's Malvasia Rosso, like most Belgian lambics, contains a wheat base beer that is fermented with wild yeasts and other microorganisms. The yeast and the various microorganisms produce alcohol in the beer, but also give it much of the prized funk and sourness that is highly sought after in traditional lambics. To add to this already complex beer, the head brewer/blender, Armand Debelder, then added red malvasia grapes and allowed the beer to age further in oak barrels. This specific vintage of Malvasia Rosso was then bottled in 2003 and allowed to bottle condition until late 2010.

Anyways, on to the review. The bottle was served at cellar temperature (slightly cool) and upon removal of the cage I almost got a cork in my face. Luckily I wasn't directly over the bottle, but I still needed to act quickly, since we had a bit of a gusher on our hands. Fortunately there were three glasses right in front of me and we ended up losing very little of the bottle. The beer itself poured a slightly hazy tangerine-orange with a thin ring of white bubbles on top. Nice color, but no lacing of any kind. However, the aroma was great. Dry earthy funk, light orange citrus and oak barrel notes with a touch of dark fruit (grape). Quite refined and well balanced, but it was the flavor that stole the show.

Crisp barnyard brett with tangerine citrus, tart apple and a touch of grape on the tongue. Lots of funk and a medium level of constant sourness. The execution on this beer was perfect. All of the Drie Fonteinen funk that people love, but then another level of complexity and smoothness that I have not experienced with any other lambics, save for Cantillon's Blåbær. This is truly an amazing beer and one that should be sought out by all lambic/gueuze lovers. As a side note, the brett character at this point is well balanced and the beer may continue to improve for another year or two, but it is drinking extremely well right now. So if you have a bottle, I highly recommend drinking it in the near future before the brett becomes too dominant, unless that is to your liking.

In addition to the Malvasia Rosso, our local tasting group was also treated to a bottle of '02 Oude Gueuze Vintage (thanks Dave!). This beer is much like Armand's regular Oude Gueuze, but the Vintage labeling denotes that only the finest barrels at Drie Fonteinen were blended to make this batch of gueuze. Not that any of their barrels are bad, but the barrels in this blend were hand picked as some of Armand's finest. Another special note about the '02 vintage is that the label is different from the rest of the other Oude Gueuze Vintage vintages and the dates are hand written instead of printed. To add to that, the '02 vintage is regarded as one of the best of the Oude Gueuze Vintage, so a best of the best if you will.

This beer, like the Malvasia Rosso, was another beautiful work of art from Drie Fonteinen. With eight years of age the aroma was gorgeous. Earthy and floral with orange citrus, oak, barnyard funk and wet hay. A bit of lemon zest and vanilla worked its way into the nose as well. Probably a touch better than the nose on the Malvasia Rosso. Absolutely outstanding.

The taste was also quite good, but not at the same level as the nose. Many of the same notes, but the brett had become a little too dominant. Lots of dry earthy notes mixed with citrus and a funky sourness. The mouthfeel was crisp and dry with light carbonation. Definitely brett heavy. Makes me kind of wonder what this beer was like 3-4 years ago.


As far as gueuze go though, the '02 Oude Gueuze Vintage is one of the best I have ever had and the nose is phenomenal. One of the few noses I have ever rated as a 5 on BeerAdvocate. Drie Fonteinen knows their stuff and hopefully someday I'll be lucky enough to come across a bottle of Millenium Gueuze or one of the J&J's from Drie Fonteinen. If that happens I'll make it priority to post about it on here.

Cheers and Happy New Years!